Former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira is eager to return to the ring and is open to moving up to welterweight, but wants to ensure his next fight is strategically beneficial for his career.
Charles Oliveira is itching for another fight. He’s also ready to haggle over his next UFC move.
The former UFC lightweight champ lost a tight split decision to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300. This happened earlier this month in Vegas. After that, he went home to be with family and “rest my mind, spirit, and body” before scheduling another bout. “Do Bronx” doesn’t fancy a long stint on the bench, though.
“I left [Las Vegas] asking for another fight right away,” Oliveira shared with MMA Fighting. He’s eager to get back in the ring as soon as possible. He had a few stitches over his eye, but that’s healed now. No injuries to report. He’s ready to fight again as soon as the UFC rings him up.
But he’s not desperate. He doesn’t feel the need to prove anything to anyone. Everyone knows his UFC history, so there’s no point in accepting fights with the No. 8 or 10 in the division. He wants to fight those ranked higher than him. That’s why he’s waiting, thinking, analyzing the next step. His managers and coaches will help with that.
Oliveira is already back in the gym. He’s planning to fly to Rio to corner his Chute Boxe teammate Elves Brener at UFC 301 on May 4.
“Do Bronx” is interested in a rematch with Justin Gaethje. Gaethje also lost at UFC 300. However, the former BMF titleholder plans to take a break for “six months, at least, before I get back to taking shots” after his brutal knockout defeat against Max Holloway.
“He’s not wrong,” Oliveira agrees. He submitted Gaethje back in 2022. “You don’t have to fight to show off to people or anything like that, you have to fight when you’re well. [Taking time off is] not my idea, I want to fight way earlier than that, so [waiting for Gaethje] doesn’t align with what I’m planning on doing.”
“There’s so much going on [at lightweight now],” he continues. Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier and Islam Makhachev, fights that are about to happen soon. He doesn’t want to rush things. He just fought recently. He’s injury-free, but a camp is a camp. He wants to take it slow, no craziness, and do things the right way.
With Gaethje out of the picture and the lightweight division packed with big fights in June, Oliveira is open to moving up to welterweight. But only if it makes sense for everyone involved.
“Why not?” Oliveira muses. “Why not take a fight that will lead us to money and history and legacy? We have to think about it and talk to the organization. Why not move up in weight and do a big fight? A fight that makes sense and gives us money? Why not?”
Oliveira didn’t watch his Tsarukyan loss. He doesn’t plan on doing it because “I don’t even watch the ones I won.” He won’t argue with the judges, either.
“I had the best opportunities to finish the fight but they decided to give the other side the win,” Oliveira says. “Many people say, ‘The victory was yours.’ I have nothing to say. If I wanted the victory to be mine, I should have knocked him out or submitted him. When it goes to a decision, it’s kind of complicated. But I had the best opportunities to finish the fight and they gave [Tsarukyan] the victory, so there’s nothing I can do.
“There’s no point complaining about something that won’t change. The result won’t change. Many people gave me the win just like many people said I lost. A lot of people will talk crap online like they always do, of course, but it won’t change. That only fuels me to work harder. I know how hard I worked to get where I got and put on that fight.”
That being said, the ex-champ sees what he could’ve done to prevent a judges’ decision.
“I could have been more aggressive, walked forward and pushed the pace on the feet,” Oliveira reflects. “I shouldn’t have waited that long on the ground, I could have battled and moved more. In my eyes, I think I won the first round pretty clearly. I lost the second round. The third was the closest one. Everything I say here will be controversial, but that’s the reality. If you watch it, he took me down, but what did he do? He did nothing. He just laid there, quietly. I was trying to submit him. I won’t create any controversy here, I won’t whine about it and say I won or lost. The result is that and there’s nothing I can do.”