.@UFC provides an
update on the
#UFC274 main event between Charles Oliveira and Justin
Gaethje.https://t.co/Z3iB2GDaWj— UFC News (@UFCNews)
May 6, 2022
The Ultimate Fighting Championship felt the need to
clear the air directly following the shocking turn of events on
Friday morning.
Ahead of the UFC
274 main event, lightweight champ Charles
Oliveira missed championship weight, hitting the scales at
155.5 pounds. He still weighed this number after receiving an
additional hour to cut weight, and as a result, the UFC had to act
accordingly. Oliveira is still set to take on Justin
Gaethje in the headliner slot, and the title fight now has
substantially different implications depending on the outcome. The
promotion
released a statement following the weigh-ins to clarify what
can happen on Saturday night.
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“Charles
Oliveira missed weight for his UFC 274 main event bout against
Justin
Gaethje on Friday afternoon in Phoenix, weighing in at 155.5
pounds,” the statement wrote. “Due to the weight miss, Oliveira
will forfeit a percentage of his purse. As of this moment, Charles
Oliveira remains the UFC Lightweight Champion, but upon the
start of the Main Event Headliner tomorrow night he will vacate the
155-pound title. The fight will proceed as scheduled, but the
championship will only be on the line for Gaethje. If Oliveira
wins, he will be the number one contender for the vacant
Lightweight Championship and will fight the next challenger for the
undisputed title belt at a time and place to be determined.”
Oliveira is the first defending champ to ever miss weight ahead of
a championship fight, and subsequently will be the first to
surrender his belt in such a fashion. While Nicco
Montano fell ill due to a weight cut and was hospitalized, and
losing her strap stripped as a result, she did not attend weigh-ins
and therefore did not even hit the scales and register a number.
Challengers for vacant championships have missed weight in the
past, including Anthony
Pettis and Yoel Romero,
while challengers for undisputed titles have also come in heavy and
lost their opportunity to fight for gold, like Travis
Lutter and Joe Riggs.
When he missed weight on his first attempt and his re-weigh effort,
Oliveira appeared surprised and not dismayed. Other UFC fighters
including Ariane
Carnelossi, Claudia
Gadelha and Casey
O’Neill lamented
that there were errors
with the backstage scale, which resulted in miscalculations and
competitors missing weight. In addition to Oliveira, Norma
Dumont tipped the scales a half pound above the featherweight
limit, and she elected to take a 30% fine instead of cutting any
more water. Gaethje strongly
disagreed, stating that he weighed the same regardless of the
weighing apparatus, while also pointing
out that three of the four competitors requiring championship
weight successfully hit their marks.
UFC 274 will go down at the Footprint Center in Phoenix on May 7,
and it will still feature a pair of title fights on top, although
the headliner has changed in the aforementioned fashion. The
co-main event draws a strawweight championship rematch between
Rose
Namajunas and Carla
Esparza. Rounding out the main card include a lightweight clash
between Michael
Chandler and Tony
Ferguson, a light heavyweight rematch with Mauricio Rua
looking to exact revenge against Ovince St.
Preux and a 155-pound thriller when top bonus winners Donald
Cerrone and Joe Lauzon
square off.