Charles Oliveira hopes to drop back down to featherweight after UFC 210

While Charles Oliveira has experienced some bad beats throughout his seven-year Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) career, the 27-year-old remains one of the more talented title contenders on the roster. However, “Do Bronx” has missed four featherweight weight cuts in just 12 divisional bouts. That’s a staggering percentage and the reason why the Brazilian has been sent back up to 155 pounds. Despite his historic trouble with cutting weight, Oliveira still wants to drop back down to 145 pounds after his lightweight tilt with Will Brooks later today (Sat., April 8, 2017) at UFC 210 from Buffalo, New York.

“We will fight at 155 now, and after this I’ll sit down with my team and manager to decide,” said Oliveira in a recent interview with MMA Fighting. "My focus is on this fight at lightweight now, and then we will see what we’ll do. I believe that 145 is the best division for me, but it’s not up to me anymore. I have a great team around me, so we’ll talk about it. But I do think it’s better for me to fight at 145."

Oliveira, who will be fighting at lightweight for the first time since getting knocked out by Donald Cerrone at UFC on Versus 5 in 2011, has suffered defeats at the hands of top featherweights Max Holloway, Frankie Edgar, Ricardo Lamas and Cub Swanson. Still, “Do Bronx” believes he can avenge all of those loses and work his ways towards a 145-pound title shot.

"I know I can beat everyone that defeated me,” said Oliveira. "Anything can happen in this division. It’s a good division for me. I want to defeat Will Brooks now and go back against a top-five (featherweight), someone like Lamas. I want to fight at featherweight and become champion there.”

If Oliveira is able to stifle Brooks later this evening at UFC 210 and win his return to lightweight then maybe he’ll change his mind. Of course, any potential move back down to featherweight is entirely up to the promotion, which has been burned countless times by “Do Bronx.”

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 210 fight card, starting with the Fight Pass "Prelims" matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET.