Charles Oliveira registered his first loss in UFC competition in almost five years at the end of 2022 and after a few months to get back to the drawing board he’s eager to return to the cage, looking at either March or April as the date. Oliveira looked unstoppable for a long time, putting together a phenomenal streak of eleven wins in a row from 2017 to 2022. In that time he finished ten of his opponents, with the notoriously durable Tony Ferguson being the only one to survive to the end of the fight.
Not only that, but Oliveira also managed to reach the pinnacle of the sport by becoming a UFC Lightweight world champion after he defeated Michael Chandler at UFC 262. After a successful title-defence against Dustin Poirier, Oliveira was stripped of his title after he failed to make weight for a fight against Justin Gaethje. Although Oliveira no longer held the belt, he was the clear top contender in the division and as such he was given an immediate title-fight against Islam Makhachev. Oliveira was submitted with an arm-triangle choke in the second round by Makhachev at UFC 280, as his opponent claimed the lightweight title.
He has been absent from the UFC since that night in October, 2022 but he’s eager to get back to work and earn himself another chance to take on Makhachev for the belt. Charles Oliveira recently sat down with AG Fight and explained exactly when he’s aiming to make his UFC return:
“I’ve been a long way from that belt. Today, I’m one fight away from him. UFC knows that – knows that I want. I didn’t come here to play. I came to make history. I want to fight around the end of March, April, that’s my timing. I need to fight on that date. And I need a guy who (is) winning, will definitely be the next challenger for the title.”
The full interview with Charles Oliveira where he discusses his return to UFC competition in March or April was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of AG Fight:
