Prior to UFC 274 last month, Charles Oliveira became the first UFC champion to lose his belt on the scale. According to ESPN, he believes the title was “taken” from him on the scale.
Oliveira was supposed to defend his championship against Justin Gaethje at UFC 274 last month. However, the champion failed to make weight before the highly anticipated fight.
‘Do Bronx’ weighed in at 155.5 pounds, only 0.5 pounds (200 grams) over the limit for a lightweight. It’s worth noting that in non-title fights in the UFC, the competitor is allowed to weigh one pound more than the weight class restriction. In a title fight, though, combatants should weigh in at or below the limit.
Fortunately for Oliveira, Gaethje was defeated early in the first round, allowing him to retain his title. In the lightweight division, he is now the No. 1 contender.
Oliveira offered his side of the tale on how the overweight drama began in a recent interview with ESPN in Portuguese.
“Since I went up in the category, I’ve never had a weight problem.” I’m usually at the weight by 20:00 on Thursdays. Then I urged my team to postpone the weight loss until later, and by the time it was 22:00, I had already called my parents and informed them that I had reached my goal weight and that everything was OK. I was joyful the next day, playing with everyone, and when I weighed myself the next day, I was 1kg over the scale, and it was already another day. I immediately remarked that it was insane. “It was unthinkable.”
“I did exercises, went to the sauna, and did everything I could to lose 800 pounds quickly.” So we began to receive word from all of the combatants that there was a scale error; all of the fighters received it, but I was the only one who did not, despite the fact that I was the category champion.”
He felt something was awry after trying several methods and yet being the same weight. Oliveira went on to say that the commission had stripped him of his title.
“I was lacking 200g, so I did something I despise: I went into the hot tub.” I stayed in it for 40 minutes, then went to weigh myself while my underwear was still wet, and the weight was the same. I weighed myself without underpants and found that I weighed the same. So they could have cut my leg off and the weight would still be the same for me. They robbed me, the local athletic commission robbed me. That is the truth.”
“The city commission cheated me; they wanted the champion to be from their town, but it wasn’t even close.” On the scale, I believe there was some pressure. He said, “Anyone could go up, but I wouldn’t make weight.”
Despite the fact that several fighters have expressed dissatisfaction with the scale, Oliveira was stripped of his belt before entering the octagon. He now awaits the decision of the promotion on who would fight him for the vacant belt.
While we would be inclined to dismiss it as superstition, the UFC would not be hiring a scale guard if the rumours of scale tampering were false. Joe Rogan, a long-time UFC analyst, also acknowledged that the scale had been tampered with.
Joe Rogan, who was in the commentator booth that night, has spoken out about the situation. He also alleged that Oliveira was cheated by the scale’s “shenanigans.”
“He’s a pretty kind man,” Rogan added, “and he was screwed in his previous fight.” “With the scale, there were some antics.”
“Someone had tinkered with the scale.” Here’s the issue with these computerized scales: foreign combatants use kilograms, whereas Americans, understandably, use pounds.”
“These scales are calibrated, and the foreign fighters would adjust the scale to kilograms.” As a result, the calibration is messed up.
“The night before the weigh-ins, he weighed in and said, ‘Oh, I’m good to go.’ Then he shows up for the weight cut the next morning, and it’s a pound or more off, which is directly tied to this calibration issue.”
