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Charles Oliveira has asserted that he’s done nothing wrong heading into tonight’s UFC 274 fight against Justin Gaethje. Speaking to ESPN MMA’s Megan Olivi, Oliveira explained how he ended up missing weight at UFC 274.
'Do Bronx' weighed in at 155.5 pounds, which is 0.5 pounds over the 155-pound UFC lightweight title bout limit. Oliveira was resultantly stripped of his title and is ineligible to win it even if he beats Justin Gaethje.
However, Gaethje – who made the 155-pound championship weight – is eligible to win the vacant title if he beats Oliveira. 'Do Bronx' is now the first UFC champion in history to be stripped of their title due to missing weight. Addressing the same, Oliveira stated:
“The champion has a name. His name is Charles Oliveira. And the story is I went up to my room, and I made weight in the UFC scale on Thursday night. Go up to my room. Did not consume anything; no water, no food, no anything. I swear to God, in the name of my daughter, the most sacred thing in my life."
Oliveira further added:
"I went to bed, wake up the following day; on the UFC scale, it’s a pound over. I’m looking at it, it’s a kilogram over, actually. I’m one over, and I don’t understand what happened. I mean, we work. We’re professionals. I did not do anything wrong. To me, it just didn’t make sense.”
Oliveira alluded to the fact that a few other fighters competing at UFC 274 reportedly experienced similar issues wherein the UFC’s weigh-in scale backstage and the UFC's official weigh-in scale differed in calibration.
He specifically pointed out that some fighters spoke about the calibration of the UFC weigh-in scales varying by about 200-300 grams.
Oliveira emphasized that after seeing he’d missed weight on the UFC’s official weigh-in scale, he immediately went to the steam room and tried everything he could to cut additional weight.
Watch Oliveira’s conversation with Megan Olivi in the video below:
Charles Oliveira vows to come out strong at UFC 274
'Do Bronx' echoed the sentiments of certain sections of the MMA community that the digital scales likely malfunctioned. Oliveira recalled that he returned to the UFC’s official weigh-in scale and weighed in with and without his briefs on, but surprisingly, his weight didn’t change at all.
Regardless, the now-former UFC lightweight champion has promised that the controversy surrounding him missing weight and being stripped of the title won’t affect his performance at UFC 274:
“If you think that this is gonna frustrate me, you’re wrong. The champion has a name. His name is Charles Oliveira. And I’m gonna come out strong.”
