"Body goes into preservation mode" - Dan Hooker details why Charles Oliveira failed to make weight for UFC 274 

During a recent appearance on The AllStar YouTube channel, ranked UFC lightweight Dan Hooker went into detail about Charles Oliveira's UFC 274 weight miss.

After initially weighing in at 155.5 pounds, 'Do Bronx' was given an additional hour to try and cut the final half-a-pound. However, he was unable to shift anymore weight. Discussing why, Hooker said:

"We do like water loads so we're full of water. We flush all sugars and salts out of our system during the week with the food we eat, so when we go sit in the sauna and cut weight, that water is readily available on our muscles and we can sweat it out. So if I miss out with the scales, I could jump back in the sauna and that water would come off."

Hooker added:

"My understanding of how the Brazilians do it is they do like a water taper leading into it, so they slowly restrict water and then 48 hours early, they cut out water completely. So your body goes into preservation mode, trying to retain all of that water. So when he was over and he had an hour to jump back on, that water was not readily available on his muscles."

Watch Dan Hooker discuss Charles Oliveira's failed weight cut in the video below:

After missing weight, Charles Oliveira was stripped of the title and was unable to leave the octagon as champion despite victory in the UFC 274 main event.

Oliveira is now the No.1 contender at 155 pounds and will be one half of the next title fight. Lightweight is one of the most stacked divisions in the UFC, so there are several potential contenders that could face Oliveira for the vacant belt.

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Who could Charles Oliveira fight for the vacant lightweight title?

Charles Oliveira expressed interest in a fight with Irish megastar Conor McGregor following his first-round submission win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 274.

During the post-fight octagon interview, the Brazilian stated through a translator:

"Hey, Conor McGregor — you coming up or you're going to run away?"

Watch Charles Oliveira's post-fight octagon interview below:

'The Notorious' quickly responded to Oliveira's challenge on social media. In a now-deleted tweet, McGregor stated that he wasn't sure about cutting all the way down to 155 pounds after piling weight in recent months.

However, the 33-year-old reiterated his desire to fight the Brazilian down the line, concluding that he would give it some thought.

While a fight against McGregor would be an intriguing one, Islam Makhachev is another top contender who is being touted as the next credible opponent for 'Do Bronx'.

What separates Makhachev from other top contenders in the division is his impressive 10-fight winning streak. Ranked No.3 at the moment, the Makhachkala native has finished his last four opponents inside the octagon.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is also adamant that his teammate is a worthy contender to fight for the vacant 155-pound gold.