UFC 210's Charles Oliveira still considering featherweight despite past scale struggles

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Charles Oliveira was far enough off the mark for his featherweight fight with Ricardo Lamas this past November that he wound up fighting at lightweight.

Oliveira came in at 155 pounds for his fight with Lamas, nine pounds north of the featherweight non-title limit. It wasn’t his first weight infraction in the division, either. In a dozen featherweight fights in the UFC, the Brazilian missed the mark four times. The only thing he did more was win bonuses – six times in those 12 bouts, in fact.

On Saturday, Oliveira (21-7 MMA, 9-7 UFC) will be at lightweight for real when he meets former Bellator champion Will Brooks (18-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) to open up UFC 210’s pay-per-view main card.

But Oliveira today said despite it appearing the UFC sent him up to lightweight to stay, that might not be the case.

“The UFC decided to bring me up to 155,” Oliveira told MMAjunkie. “I’m training hard. I think (I’m only at lightweight) for this fight. They called me, and I accepted it. After this, we’ll see if I stay at lightweight, or if I go back to (featherweight).”

UFC 210 takes place Saturday at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Provided Oliveira has no issues making 156 pounds for his fight with Brooks, he’ll step into the octagon on Saturday needing to get back on track after three losses in his past four fights at featherweight.

A submission win over Myles Jury in December 2015 is the lone bright spot in a four-fight stretch that includes stoppage losses to Max Holloway, Anthony Pettis and Lamas – a veritable murderer’s row of 145-pounders.

Against Brooks, he said he’ll take a cue from another Oliveira, Alex “Cowboy,” who took out Brooks this past October. (Ironically, Alex Oliveira missed weight for that fight.)

“You can make mistakes when you fight,” Oliveira said. “I made some of those, but I learned to fight with more pressure in my fights.

“Will Brooks is a very tough guy, and he’ll be a hard fight. I learned that ‘Cowboy’ did a great job in the cage and pressured (Brooks) a lot. I can do that, too. But a fight’s a fight. I’ll do my best – you’ll see.”

Check out the video above for more from Oliveira ahead of his fight against Brooks.

And for more on UFC 210, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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