Charles Oliveira poses after making weight before his fight with Kevin Lee.
Charles Oliveira teases return to 145lbs, winning second UFC belt against Alexander Volkanovski
Former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira is teasing return to 145lbs, saying he would like to win a second UFC belt against Alexander Volkanovski.
Oliveira takes on Islam Makhachev for the vacant UFC lightweight title in the main event of UFC 280 this weekend. Oliveira was the lightweight champ but he lost his belt on the scale in his last matchup against Justin Gaethje when he came in half a pound heavy. Despite missing weight, the UFC is giving him another lightweight title fight and expect him to make the 155lbs limit.
In the event there’s an issue for either Makhachev or Oliveira ahead of UFC 280, the promotion has called upon UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski to be the backup fighter in Abu Dhabi just in case something happens. While the hope is that both Makhachev and Oliveira make it to the fight intact, there is always the chance something happens, which is why Volkanovski is the backup fighter just in case.
Even if Oliveira doesn’t end up fighting Volkanovski this weekend at UFC 280, however, he’s still interested in fighting Volkanovski next year. In fact, according to Oliveira, he wants to fight Volkanovski at 155lbs early in the year, and then by the end of the year, he hopes to move down to to 145lbs and fight Volkanovski for a second time.
“First of all, we’re going to focus on what’s going to happen here on this fight in particular. My timing is that we fight in Brazil afterward, regardless. If we’re going to make this fight happen, Charles vs. Volkanovski, we can have it two ways – we’re going to fight at (155 pounds) and then we’re going to fight (145 pounds) at the end of the year. So we’re going to fight at two weight divisions,” Oliveira told the media ahead of UFC 280 (h/t MMAjunkie.com).
Oliveira used to compete at featherweight, but he missed weight numerous times in that weight division and eventually moved up to 155lbs. Despite missing weight on multiple occasions at 145lbs, and then missing weight at 155lbs against Gaethje, Oliveira is confident that he is able to make featherweight in the near future if the UFC allows him to move back down in weight.
“Sure, I have a great team to get down to (145 pounds),” Oliveira said.
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