UFC 274: Decoding reasons behind Charles Oliveira lightweight title loss to Justin Gaethje

UFC Lightweight Champion Charles Oliveira's title defence against Justin Gaethje ended even before it started after the fighter was stripped of his title after being found to be a half-pound too heavy for his title defence on Saturday, May 7 as part of UFC 274. Oliveira won the vacant lightweight belt in May of last year, after defeating Michael Chandler in UFC 262 via technical knockout. He then successfully defended his title against Dustin Poirier by submission in UFC 269 which was held in December.

Charles Oliveira misses weight; loses UFC Lightweight title

According to en.as.com Charles Oliveira became the first UFC champion has lost a title due to missing the division weight. Oliveira was stripped of his title after coming in at 155.5 pounds, which is half a pound too heavy for the 155-pound division. The report further states that he was given an hour to drop the excess weight but was unable to do so. Even though Charles Oliveira vs Justin Gaethje's fight will go ahead as per the schedule the American (Gatheja) will be eligible to win the title. If the Brazilian wins, the belt will remain vacant. Justin Gaethje is a former interim UFC lightweight champion and is currently number one in the division rankings. 

Charles Oliveira miss weight: Former UFC Lightweight Champion issues statement

Taking to Instagram, Charles Oliveira has issued a statement after being stripped of his title due to weight miss. He wrote, "The champion has a name his name is Charles Oliveira let's go with everything Brazilian nation God is God he never abandoned me and it won't be now that he goes I am the CHOSEN THE ILLUMINATED".

According to the MMA Junkie report, Charles Oliveira with the help of an interpreter on the ESPN ceremonial weigh-in broadcast said, " The story is that I went up to my room. I made weight on the UFC scale on Thursday night. I go up to my room (and) didn’t consume anything. No water, no food, no anything. I swear to God. In the name of my daughter, the most sacred thing in my life. I went to bed. I wake up the following day and it’s a pound over. I’m looking at it. I’m one kilogram over, actually. I’m one over and I don’t understand what happened. I can’t understand. We work. We’re professionals. I didn’t do anything wrong. To me, it just didn’t make sense".