Charles Oliveira still wants to go back down to featherweight.
Charles Oliveira is fresh off his impressive UFC lightweight title defense against Dustin Poirier, with the submission victory marking his 10th straight win at 155 lbs.
He used to struggle making 145 lbs a few years back, having missed weight on four separate occasions. Oliveira went 9-7 with one No Contest in the UFC, before finally moving up to 155 lbs, where he’s having a career resurgence. His record at lightweight speaks for itself, but it looks like Oliveira isn’t ready to give up on the featherweight division just yet.
One of his motivations is to be the first Brazilian man to hold UFC belts in two divisions.
“I really thought I couldn’t drop to 145 anymore,” Oliveira told MMA Fighting, “but this last weight cut, I was really [close to] 155 before the fight with this work we’ve been doing, with lots of water in the body, and we believe we could easily make 145.
“If I had the opportunity to go straight for the 145 belt, I’d move down to fight,” Oliveira said. “Becoming a two-division champion, a Brazilian man, would be awesome.”
Oliveira says he’s even willing to move up to 170 lbs to achieve that goal, but admits it’s “more viable” to just drop back down to featherweight.
As it stands, UFC featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski currently needs a dance partner after Max Holloway pulled out of their title rematch due to injury. Will Oliveira be given that opportunity to go for a second belt this early into his lightweight title reign? It seems unlikely at this point, but it looks like Volkanovski currently has a lot of options.