Charles Oliveira’s Controversial Weigh-In Twisted Into Hilarious Marketing Opportunity
Charles Oliveira’s weigh-in debacle ahead of UFC 274 has been the talk among fans and fighters since the former champion stepped onto the scale 0.5lbs over the lightweight limit.
Tipping the scale at 155.5lbs, Oliveira was given one hour to cut the additional weight during the Friday morning official weigh-ins. After an hour had elapsed, Oliveira was unable to cut the extra weight resulting in ‘Do Bronx’ being stripped of the UFC lightweight championship while on the scale.
Never one to look away from a financial opportunity, Oliveira began selling ‘155lbs’ t-shirts on his official website.
While the t-shirts are a fairly humorous way to turn a negative into a positive, there are plenty within the MMA community upset with the situation amidst claims that scales used and approved by the Arizona State Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts Commission were either not calibrated properly, or were re-calibrated after fighters had weighed themselves the evening before the official weigh-ins.
Charles Oliveira Remains Cool as a Cucumber Amidst Weigh-In Controversy
Charles Oliveira’s weigh-in caused an immediate stir that was riddled with controversy after UFC strawweight Ariane Carnelossi tweeted that the fighters’ weight conference scale was incorrectly calibrated.
“Congratulations to the “smartass” who reset the fighters’ weight conference scale and calibrated it wrong with 200g of difference. We only found out this morning that it was making a difference in the athletic commission scale,” Carnelossi tweeted.
Since then, the UFC’s vice president of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner has come out and confirmed that the scale was accurate while providing some insight on Carnelossi’s comments.
“Well, first of all, let me say that the official scale, which is the one they weighed in on Friday with the athletic commission … 28 of the fighters made weight,” Ratner said Tuesday on Sirius XM’s ‘Unlocking the Cage.’ “So I’m very, very sure that there was nothing untoward on that scale. That scale was accurate.
“What people are talking about, the night before, there’s a scale where the fighters can come down and check their weight. Some fighters wanted to change the scale from pounds to kilograms, which you can do, and I think that may have knocked it – we don’t have any proof of anything, but it may have knocked the (practice) scale out of calibration.”
Despite losing his title before getting the chance to step inside the Octagon, Charles Oliveira remained humble, yet determined to prove that he is the undisputed champion no matter what the scale says.
‘Do Bronx’ did just that when he put away title challenger Justin Gaethje in the very first round of their UFC 274 main event. Securing a submission via rear-naked choke, Oliveira earned his 19th stoppage and 16th submission in the promotion, both of which are UFC records.
Dana White confirmed after the event that Charles Oliveira would still earn PPV points for his contest, something typically reserved for reigning and defending champions.
