Defending UFC champion Charles Oliveira has been stripped of his title after failing to make the 155lb lightweight limit for his bout with Justin Gaethje.
The 32-year-old Brazilian was due to put his title on the line at UFC 274 in Arizona but weighed in half a pound over the limit. It left him with an hour to make weight, but after failing to do so the fight will no longer go ahead. Fighters in UFC title bouts are not permitted the one-pound allowance typically afforded in non-championship showdowns.
Oliveira later insisted he had been on weight when he went to bed on Thursday night. “The story is that I went up to my room. I made weight on the UFC scale on Thursday night. I go up to my room (and) didn’t consume anything," he said. "No water, no food, no anything. I swear to God. In the name of my daughter, the most sacred thing in my life. I went to bed. I wake up the following day and it’s a pound over.
Only Gaethje can win the belt tonight with the belt remaining vacant if Oliveira is successful. The now former champion would then challenge for the belt against a leading contender later this year. Gaethje, meanwhile, is challenging for lightweight honours for the second time having been choked out by Khabib Nurmagomedov in 20202.
And the American sees Gaethje saw Oliveira as a completely different challenge to the all-conquering Russian. “They’re definitely not the same athlete,” he said in the build-up to the fight. "And Charles certainly is not more dangerous than Khabib. His ability to take damage is not the same, proven through the times we’ve seen him fight.
"All my criticism of Charles is from a kid that we were talking about, that we all watched grow, and now we’re talking about a man with confidence. It’s a different person, but ultimately the same Charles is still there.
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“The same Charles that fought Cub Swanson. The same Charles that fought Donald Cerrone. The same Charles that fought [Anthony] Pettis. Choices were made in that by him and the choice to quit was made, and I’m going to give him that choice on Saturday night, I guarantee that.”
Oliveira has won 10 straight in the lightweight division, becoming UFC champion and seeing off the likes of Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee. However Gaethje still believes there are doubts surrounding the champion. “I think that’s true, however, once a coward always a coward. I’m not calling him a coward, but I’m saying that’s — you can’t just take that away. It’s there. Khabib never showed you that, and that’s why you can’t compare those two," he added.
