Justin Gaethje: Charles Oliveira calls Justin Gaethje his toughest fight, claims UFC “robbed” him of the belt

Charles Oliveira recently named Justin Gaethje as the toughest fight of his career, and also reflected on the controversial decision to strip him of the UFC lightweight title before the bout.

Oliveira faced Gaethje back at UFC 274 in the hopes of defending his 155-pound title for a second time. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, however, he weighed in on the scales at 155.5 pounds, half a pound over the divisional title limit. As a result of his weight-miss, 'Do Bronx' was controversially stripped of the title, the first time such an incident had happened in UFC history.

Despite the 35-year-old going on to submit 'The Highlight' in the first round, he was only able to cement himself as the No.1 contender instead of leaving with the belt.

The decision to strip Oliveira has remained marred in controversy, as a number of fighters on the card alleged there were issues with the scales, with the entire incident later being dubbed 'scale gate'.

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Check out Charles Oliveira missing weight at UFC 274:

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Now, three years on from his bout against Gaethje and just a month out from the UFC lightweight title bout against Ilia Topuria, Charles Oliveira has reflected on the entire situation during an interview with @REALMMATODAY. He said:

"[The hardest fight] was against Justin Gaethje. Everyone knows they stole my belt. It was never about 200 grams...His corner, his coach, was always around me, all over the place like he was from the commission.This stuff doesn’t happen anywhere else. They just wanted to hand him that belt, but they couldn’t do it outright, so they were trying to mess with my head. In reality, they just robbed me."

Check out Charles Oliveira's comments below:

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Charles Oliveira predicts upcoming lightweight title bout against Ilia Topuria

Charles Oliveira recently predicted his upcoming UFC lightweight title clash against Ilia Topuria. The pair are set to fight it out for the vacant belt at UFC 317 on June 28.

'El Matador' vacated the 145-pound title earlier this year to pursue a bout against Islam Makhachev. The Russian has since opted to do the same, however, and will move up to welterweight, leaving Topuria and Oliveira to fight it out for the newly vacated lightweight belt.

Ahead of their clash, Oliveira spoke to Full Violence, where he was asked for his prediction for the bout. According to Oliveira, he expects to knock out the Georgian-Spaniard. He said:

"It’s a great fight, he’s a great fighter, but I don’t need to prove anything to anyone about who I am, what I've done in the fight business. This fight came at a huge opportunity. I will knock out this guy. That’s for real."

Check out Charles Oliveira's comments below:

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About the author

Will began his tenure at Sportskeeda as an MMA writer over 2 years ago and has penned over 1800 pieces so far, including 35+ exclusives, which have garnered close to 5 million views.

Will graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Media and Communications from Bournemouth University, where he was also a valued member of their communications team. His degree heavily focused on social media and writing, which eventually led him toward sports writing.

He turned into an MMA fan after witnessing Conor McGregor’s 13-second TKO win over Jose Aldo at UFC 194 in 2015. The Irishman sits at the top of his list of top-five MMA fighters of all time, which also includes world champions like Demetrious Johnson, Michael Bisping, Max Holloway, and Georges St-Pierre.

Will especially enjoys working on event days and feels his contribution to Sportskeeda’s UFC 300 coverage was one of the high points of his time with the organization. He ensures his articles are accurate by going through multiple sources, which also helps his writing be as informative as possible.

His interests away from work include football, gaming, live streaming, and listening to music.

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Edited by Tejas Rathi