Charles Oliveira finds himself yet again in a position he is very familiar with- being underestimated and written off. The Brazilian former lightweight champion has been proving his doubters wrong and making history while at it. After all, before his eighth birthday, he was told by a doctor that he would never be able to play sports due to a heart murmur.

By the time he was twelve, he had become the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion of his native Sao Paulo. And since then, he has been underestimated at every turn. After Khabib Nurmagomedov retired and vacated the UFC lightweight title in 2020, no one was expecting Oliveira to become the champ. He not only became champ but defended it against Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, two of the toughest men in his division.

However, just as the narrative around him seemed to be turning, he lost his title to Islam Makhachev on UFC 285 in a fight where he clearly wasn’t himself. Since then, he has failed to rematch the Dagestani, having had to pull out of their scheduled UFC 294 rematch last year due to injury. And now, with his loss to Arman Tsarukyan in their number-one contender bout at UFC 300, he was (temporarily) eliminated from title contention.

But now he is clearly ready and raring to bounce back strongly and regain his position at the top of the UFC’s stacked 155-pound division. The former champ took to social media and teased his return with a simple post. “The light weight lion is coming back…,” Oliveira wrote on Instagram. While he shared no other details, including whom or when he would be fighting, fans are likely to get all the answers with Dana White‘s upcoming batch of announcements. But, Oliveira’s revelation, of course, raises one very important question.

Who could be Oliveira’s next opponent?

Dana White recently promised fans that the announcement of Conor McGregor’s much-awaited comeback to the octagon after three years of inactivity is ‘coming soon’. ‘Mac’, of course, has been positively begging White for a date this year since his UFC 303 clash with Michael Chandler fell through.

And with ‘Do Bronx’s aforementioned Instagram post, another big name could be added to the list of big announcements Dana White will make in the near future. Oliveira, of course, is ranked #2 in the division at the moment, and his upcoming opponent will almost definitely be another top-ranked guy.

#3 ranked Justin Gaethje and #4 ranked Dustin Poirier are coming off a loss too, and may be prime contenders to fight ‘Do Bronx’. However, since the Brazilian has already defeated both men, young guns like a Dan Hooker, a Mateusz Gamrot, or a Rafael Fiziev may get the nod. Either way, we will have to wait for the announcement to be made by Dana White. Who do you think Oliveira should fight next?