Charles Oliveira is the very best in the globe, and he doesn’t will need a belt to confirm it.
The Brazilian walked into the octagon Saturday night in Phoenix as the UFC titleholder at 155 pounds. He still left the “No. 1 contender,” even immediately after tapping out challenger Justin Gaethje by using initially-spherical rear-bare choke to shut out UFC 274.
Blame his 50 %-pound reduction to the scale 36 hours earlier for causing the very first defending UFC champion to reduce his crown by missing fat — which did not officially happen until eventually he stepped into the cage at Footprint Centre.
“There’s one thing missing below,” the belt-much less Oliveira declared via an interpreter in the octagon. “The winner has a identify, and it is Charles Oliveira.”
Oliveira (33-8, 30 finishes) understood what his occupation was the day ahead of his 3rd championship fight inside of of 365 times. He had to strike 155 lbs . or considerably less, and he did not. When he very first whiffed, he experimented with to reduce far more pounds. The gambit failed.
The complete notion powering excess weight chopping is to occur into the cage heavier than the opponent, with a perceived advantage with elevated mass. Championship-amount 155ers usually come to the cage among 170 and 178 kilos.
Struggle-night time weights are not built community by the Arizona commission, so there’s no formal phrase on who held the edge. The only official report lists Oliveira with an .5 kilos on Gaethje (23-4, 20 finishes). But verify the photographs and film of a sucked-out Oliveira on the scale, failing to strike the mark, and inform oneself those people extra ounces would be an edge a day later on.
Can you genuinely say that? I absolutely sure just can't.
The erstwhile UFC winner surely did not glance notably more huge than the ultra-violent Gaethje, obviously the crowd most loved battling inside of 3 hrs of his hometown of Safford. And even though Oliveira had his times in the course of the early goings of what amounted to a sensational 3-minute, 22-next scrap, Gaethje positive inflicted much more hurt early on with his brutal kicks and heavy fingers.
But bloody Oliveira by no means wilted — time to quit pairing “Charles Oliveira” and “quitter” jointly. He did what he’s completed in every single of these five-round combat bonanzas: took a lickin’ and kept asskickin’.
“[Gaethje is] a guy who pushes ahead, and I often press ahead. I realized this was gonna happen.” Oliveira instructed reporters hours later by means of an interpreter. “I knew that I was gonna get strike. I understood that I was gonna strike him.”
“Do Bronx” broken Gaethje, he of the all-action track record, with a laser of a correct hand. You realized what was in shop for the challenger following the UFC’s all-time submission leader was certain to pad his record against the Arizonan. 1st fishing for an arm and then a triangle, Oliveira immediately pounced on an opening to sink in the mata leão.
Make that 16 subs in the NFL of MMA. Excellent luck chasing down Charlie Olives’ mark.
Immediately just after the faucet, Oliveira sprung to his ft and signed a belt all over his midsection that he would not have wrapped close to him Saturday evening. These a shame, as there is no concern by any means who’s the leading puppy in the UFC lightweight division.
Beating Gaethje is extraordinary on its have. Undertaking so five months after stopping Dustin Poirier, a former interim champ? Wonderful.
Component in wins over Tony Ferguson, also a a single-time interim winner, and ex-Bellator titleholder Michael Chandler just before those people two title defenses? Stupendous.
Oliveira stated he’s “here to make a legacy and make heritage.” Mission accomplished.
Ferguson, Chandler, Poirier, Gaethje. That is a murderer’s row the likes of which the UFC has not witnessed at 155 lbs .. Khabib Nurmagomedov retired an unbeaten champion just months just before Oliveira won the recently-vacated belt, but even “The Eagle” cannot boast as extraordinary a four-combat run as the latest gold normal.
Without a doubt, the UFC has deigned Oliveira just its top rated light-weight contender, with his subsequent battle deciding the promotion’s winner. But struggle admirers are not fools. They know what’s up. They know who’s the leading 155er on earth Earth, and he’s bought platinum blond hair and a hell of a squeeze.
“He’s the dude,” UFC president Dana White instructed reporters afterward. “He didn’t make body weight. We have policies. He didn’t make the excess weight. The belt is vacant. But I’m positive, in the minds of the media and fight lovers, Oliveira is the winner.”
Damn straight.
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