Charles
Oliveira didn’t carry himself like someone who was stripped of
the lightweight title following his first-round submission of
Justin
Gaethje in the
UFC 274 main event.
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“I went into the Octagon to defend the title,” Oliveira said
through a translator at the UFC 274 post-fight press conference. “I
don’t have to get it back. The champion is Charles
Oliveira, and we all know that.”
Oliveira was undeniably impressive as he survived some heavy
artillery from Gaethje early, then recovered to floor him with a
right hand before submitting him with a rear-naked choke 3:22 into
Round 1 of their bout at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz., on
Saturday night. Oliveira has won 11 consecutive fights in UFC
competition and assured himself a spot in a fight for the
now-vacant 155-pound belt in the future.
“He’s the guy,” UFC president Dana White said. “He didn’t make
weight. We have rules, he didn’t make the weight, the belt is
vacant. But I’m sure in the minds of the media and fight fans,
Oliveira’s the champion. But technically, he’s the No. 1 contender
now.”
There was some controversy regarding the weigh-ins, as some claimed
the scale the UFC uses to simulate the one utilized by the state
athletic commission may have been altered in some fashion,
resulting in some inaccurate readings. Among those who claim to
have been affected was Oliveira, who ultimately missed weight by
0.5 pounds. White indicated that the promotion will have a security
guard monitoring the UFC scale going forward in order to prevent
future issues.
“It’s a nightmare. I mean, it’s a nightmare,” White said. “We have
this issue where guys come out, and they’ll start checking the
scale the night before. All the Europeans and guys from other parts
of the world do kilos, so they all start f—ing with the scale to
look at kilos. And who knows?
“There’s so many moving parts to this beast of a machine that we
run every week,” White added. “We’ve got to have a security guard
where the scale is now. It’s something we’re gonna have to do.”
While that situation put a damper on Oliveira’s performance, he’ll
have a chance to recapture the crown in his next UFC appearance. In
the mind of the man himself, it’s something he never lost.
“This is a message to the division: I know who I am, and I know
where I came from. You knocked me down, but I’ll keep going,”
Oliveira said. “I knew that I was going to get hit. I knew I was
going to hit him. I was ready for a war, and it was all about who
wanted it more. I was enlightened. And again, the name of the
champion is Charles
Oliveira.”