Despite vacating title, Charles Oliveira declares himself ‘champion’ after UFC 274 win

Charles Oliveira didn’t carry himself like someone who was stripped of the lightweight title following his first-round submission of Justin Gaethje in the  UFC 274 main event.

“I went into the Octagon to defend the title,” Oliveira said through a translator at the UFC 274 post-fight press conference. “I don’t have to get it back. The champion is Charles Oliveira, and we all know that.”

Oliveira was undeniably impressive as he survived some heavy artillery from Gaethje early, then recovered to floor him with a right hand before submitting him with a rear-naked choke 3:22 into Round 1 of their bout at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz., on Saturday night. Oliveira has won 11 consecutive fights in UFC competition and assured himself a spot in a fight for the now-vacant 155-pound belt in the future.

“He’s the guy,” UFC president Dana White said. “He didn’t make weight. We have rules, he didn’t make the weight, the belt is vacant. But I’m sure in the minds of the media and fight fans, Oliveira’s the champion. But technically, he’s the No. 1 contender now.”

There was some controversy regarding the weigh-ins, as some claimed the scale the UFC uses to simulate the one utilized by the state athletic commission may have been altered in some fashion, resulting in some inaccurate readings. Among those who claim to have been affected was Oliveira, who ultimately missed weight by 0.5 pounds. White indicated that the promotion will have a security guard monitoring the UFC scale going forward in order to prevent future issues.

“It’s a nightmare. I mean, it’s a nightmare,” White said. “We have this issue where guys come out, and they’ll start checking the scale the night before. All the Europeans and guys from other parts of the world do kilos, so they all start f—ing with the scale to look at kilos. And who knows?

“There’s so many moving parts to this beast of a machine that we run every week,” White added. “We’ve got to have a security guard where the scale is now. It’s something we’re gonna have to do.”

While that situation put a damper on Oliveira’s performance, he’ll have a chance to recapture the crown in his next UFC appearance. In the mind of the man himself, it’s something he never lost.

“This is a message to the division: I know who I am, and I know where I came from. You knocked me down, but I’ll keep going,” Oliveira said. “I knew that I was going to get hit. I knew I was going to hit him. I was ready for a war, and it was all about who wanted it more. I was enlightened. And again, the name of the champion is Charles Oliveira.”