For anyone that constantly watches the Bellator preliminary cards, a familiar name was Sam Oropeza as he made his Bellator debut back in 2011 and won four of his five fights in the promotion. 
His debut in Bellator did not go his way but since that defeat, he has won seven in a row and all of his career victories have come by either knockout or submission.
Along with being a familiar name on the Bellator prelims, Oropeza (12-2) was a season ten welterweight tournament participant and made it to the semifinals. However, he would end up being pulled from the tournament due to missing weight and it was not the first time he missed weight in Bellator.
During his appearance on The MMA Report Live, Oropeza stated that he has not completely closed the door at fighting at welterweight but attempting to make 170 pounds in Bellator was bad for his health.
“It was a dangerous cut and it was bad for my health,” Oropeza said. “I was really screwing my body up. As of right now, I am looking at 185 and I am 6’2. I am a big guy and I have a frame where I could possible be a heavyweight some day. It’s not something that I think about on a regular basis, but at 185 pounds, I feel great. I really feel that is my weight and fighting at that weight just — I use to look at it in a way when I was at 170. If I was bigger than everybody, I have the advantage. Really, I have the advantage when I am at 100 percent and as healthy as possible. Right now, it’s at 185 pounds.”
His last fight in Bellator took place in October as he defeated Gary Tapusoa by TKO in the first round. It was his fifth straight victory by TKO and his last four wins have come in the first round. After seeing the changes being made in Bellator, Oropeza and his manager decided what was best for him was to part ways from the promotion.
“Bellator was good to me and they always treated me well,” he said. “Really what I thought and what my manager Jimmy Binns thought was the direction they were going in was not the direction we wanted to pursue. They were getting away from doing fights every week like they did and I think the writing is on the wall with who they want to promote. They were getting a lot of bigger names from different arenas of combat sports. I wanted to put that belief inside myself and put that belief in my team. Really believe that I deserve to be in the best organization in the world which is the UFC. I’m looking to use this fight to prove to the world and the UFC that I belong in there.”
He will now return next Saturday night when he meets Timothy Woods at Global Proving Grounds in New Jersey. Staying on the regional scene is a way for Oropeza to stay active and he wants to prove with a win over Woods that he deserves to be in the UFC.
“I have a very tough opponent in Timothy Woods,” Oropeza said. “A fight is a fight. Somethings I think we get locked into the way that people in the UFC are so much better than everyone else. There is that level of competition that is higher and that is 100 percent correct but there is a lot of fighters on the regional circuit that can be in there and fight on any night. I believe Timothy Woods is at that caliber. A big win over him would show everybody and prove to everybody. The UFC is doing fights constantly. They are on Fox Sports now. Just the way to get out there, get the exposure. Every time you fight, you are taking a big risk and you want that exposure.”
With the type of style Oropeza brings to the cage every time, he could be a fighter that may be in the UFC in the near future. Especially if he can have an impressive performance next Saturday night against Woods.