Alexander Volkanovski lost to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298, and now all the eyes are on the 145 lbs title. While ‘El Matador’ may have collected the attention of fellow featherweight fighters, he’s also found challengers in other weight divisions. And one of them is the former lightweight champion of the world, Charles Oliveira.

Oliveira dropped out of his UFC 294 bout against Islam Makhachev with an injury and has been out of action since. He is set to return at UFC 300 against Arman Tsarukyan in a title eliminator of sorts. Now, Oliveira has promised something to the fans ahead of his UFC 300 bout.

Charles Oliveira wants Ilia Topuria’s gold

Before his dominance in the lightweight division, Charles Oliveira was a featherweight contender in the UFC. Now, with the landscape shift at 145 lbs after UFC 298, the former lightweight champion seems to have taken in a renewed interest in his old hunting grounds.

“Promise of fighting in the featherweight title fight #UFCBR #UFC298” he wrote in a very recent X post. While it may have been a while, Oliveira is no stranger to the featherweight division. He used to fight in the division from 2012 to 2018. He’s fought the likes of Max Holloway, Frankie Edgar, and Jeremy Stephens.

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Unfortunately, he never managed to claim the title. Perhaps he wants to go about changing that. Potentially, Oliveira could still land a lightweight title shot if he manages to defeat Tsarukyan at UFC 300. There are other contenders in the way too, like Justin Gaethje who is up against Max Holloway at the same pay-per-view.

‘The Highlight’ will be defending his BMF title. In the recent UFC 300 Q&A session, he opened up about how his fight with Makhachev has forever been delayed. But at the big pay-per-view, there could be 2 clear contenders for the title. Interestingly, Topuria garnered attention from Makhachev too, after winning his title.

Islam Makhachev welcomes the new champ

Islam Makhachev was quick to tweet out a response to ‘El Matador’ securing a second-round knock-out win over the long-reigning champ that was Alexander Volkanovski. “Alex is undeniably one of the greatest champion in the FW division. Keep your head up and come back strong! Congrats to new champ Topuria, well done!” 

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Clearly, there is nothing but respect between ‘Volk’ and the Dagestani phenom, who have locked horns twice before. Perhaps, now that the former lightweight champ Charles Oliveira is looking to take the belt that used to belong to ‘The Great’, Volkanovski can finally set his mind to Makhachev’s title.

With Oliveira’s interest in the 145 lbs title and Volkanovski wasting no time announcing his rematch ambitions, the featherweight division has started to heat up. How will things unfold in the months to come? Give us your thoughts in the comments.

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