Charles Oliveira may have lost as much as $2million after missing weight and being stripped of his lightweight title.
Oliveira was set to put his 155lb crown on the line in Phoenix against Justin Gaethje last night, but weighed in half a pound over the limit and was unable to shed the extra mass after an extra hour. The fight went ahead with Oliveira choking out his rival to set up a shot at the vacant title in his next bout.
UFC legend Chael Sonnen believes a pay-per-view clause would have seen Oliveira drop $1million alone without the additional losses of sponsorship. "I could probably come up with, right here in front of you, about $2.3m that that scale fail cost him," Sonnen said on his YouTube channel when assessing UFC 274. "Just so you understand how participation works for defending a championship. You must understand that word - defending a championship.
