Charles Oliveira’s UFC lightweight title has been revoked after he failed to make weight for his battle against Justin Gaethje at UFC 27
The Brazilian has weighed half a pound over the 155lb limit, which means he will have to renounce the championship he has held since last May.
Oliveira was given an hour to achieve championship weight, but he failed. The bout will still take place, but only Gaethje will be eligible for the championship.
The championship will be declared vacated if Oliveira wins.
It will be Gaethje’s second opportunity at the championship after he was defeated by Khabib Nurmagomedov in his retirement bout in October 2020
Nurmagomedov, widely regarded as one of the best fighters in MMA history, defeated Gaethje in two rounds.
‘The Highlight’ believes he has a good chance against Oliveira and does not believe he is in the same league as Nurmagome.
“They’re definitely not the same athlete,” Gaethje said earlier this week to MMA Fighting.
“And Charles certainly is not more dangerous than Khabib. His ability to take damage is not the same, proven through the times we’ve seen him fight. All my criticism of Charles is from a kid that we were talking about, that we all watched grow, and now we’re talking about a man with confidence.
“It’s a different person, but ultimately the same Charles is still there.
“The same Charles that fought Cub Swanson. The same Charles that fought Donald Cerrone.
“The same Charles that fought [Anthony] Pettis. Choices were made in that by him and the choice to quit was made, and I’m going to give him that choice on Saturday night, I guarantee that.”
Surprisingly, this might pave the way for Conor McGregor to enter a championship bout upon his comeback.
In July, ‘The Notorious’ fractured his leg against Dustin Poirier and has been out of action since.
He’s made no secret of his ambition to wield UFC gold for the first time since 2016 and a prospective interim championship match might be too lucrative for UFC president Dana White to pass up.
McGregor retweeted a video on Friday which said: “Conor McGregor on his way to save #UFC274 main event if Charles Oliviera misses weight.”
