Charles OliveiraJeff Bottari/Getty Images
Charles Oliveira’s work was done in 202 seconds.
After he choked out Justin Gaethje—in front of the poor guy’s hometown fans, no less—Oliveira swaggered up to Joe Rogan and the post-fight microphone and glared into the camera as if someone inside it might owe him money.
And through an interpreter he made one very simple, very accurate observation:
“There’s something missing here.”
As shellshocked and irked as they were, the Phoenix faithful gathered there for the main event of Saturday’s UFC 274 knew exactly what he meant.
“The champion has a name,” the interpreter continued, as if anyone needed enlightenment. “And it’s Charles Oliveira. …This is a message to the entire division. I’m a problem for the entire division.”
That’s one way to put it. After handing Gaethje (23-4) just the second submission loss of his career, Oliveira (33-8-1) further established himself as the best fighter in the UFC’s best division and beyond. It was a drama-filled week for Oliveira and his fans, a week that saw him become the first fighter ever to lose his belt to the weigh-in scale. Winning, and winning in this fashion, put that drama, and the division he still owns, in a new frame of reference.
In case you missed it, Oliveira was indeed the lightweight champion coming into this bout, with this scheduled to be his second title defense. But he missed weight Friday when he came in at 155.5 pounds, or half a pound above the limit for title fights. (Non-title fights generally allow you to weigh up to one pound over the division limit, but title fights require competitors to hit it on the nose or come in below.)
Oliveira took one hour to lose the extra weight but again weighed in at 155.5 pounds. As a result, he was essentially stripped of the title, with the belt formally considered vacant as of the start of the fight on Saturday. He also forfeited part of his fight purse to Gaethje. Although Gaethje could become champ with a win, Oliveira would not be eligible to take back the title even in victory.
We can argue over the severity of those sanctions or the importance of half a pound until we’re blue in the face, but at the end of the day all the fighters know the rules (or should). A toe on the line is a toe on the line. Two feet inbounds is two feet inbounds. The boundaries are there, literal and otherwise. Professionals are paid to be professionals. That’s sports and them’s the breaks.
Still, the UFC threw Oliveira a bit of a lifeline, issuing a statement that read in part that “if Oliveira wins, he will be the number one contender for the vacant Lightweight Championship and will fight the next challenger for the undisputed title belt at a time and place to be determined.”
With a chance for redemptive gold still on the horizon, Oliveira didn’t seem to need any more motivation once the door closed and the bout began. He certainly didn’t appear to show any ill effects from the weight cut.
Oliveira (right) hits GaethjeChris Unger/Getty Images
As one might expect, this was an action fight from the jump, and was all the way through its short shelf life.
With the crowd behind him, Gaethje came out with his left hook loaded and ready. They both connected early, Oliveira with a stiff right hand and Gaethje with leg kicks. It was quickly clear that the fight might hinge on sheer, unadulterated durability.
Shots were traded, chins were tested, but it was Oliveira pushing the pace. His output was higher; while both men hit on an identical 63 percent of their significant strikes, per UFC stats, Oliveira landed 30 to Gaethje’s 21.
At about the 2:15 mark, an Oliveira right hand dumped Gaethje on the mat. That’s not something you see every day. Oliveira pounced and went for the choke but couldn’t quite wrap his arm under the neck. With Oliveira constricting, Gaethje somehow spun out, but in the ensuing moments quickly and unwittingly gave up his back. Oliveira didn’t miss a second time.
The choke was deep but it still took a while, as Gaethje is as tough as they come. But with his unconsciousness waning, the tap came. The official result was a rear-naked choke submission at 3:22 of Rd. 1
Chris Unger/Getty Images
Want to know how good Oliveira is? Gaethje, a college wrestler with 73 percent takedown defense, had not a prayer on the ground. He was in deep water the moment Oliveira descended; you could see it written on his face. The standup phase seemed like the right wheelhouse for Gaethje in this one. It wasn’t, with Oliveira using pinpoint accuracy to make each strike sting. For Charlie Olives, as the internet loves to call him, this was surely about redemption, but so too was it just another sunny day in the sandbox. A guy lucky enough to be a natural at what he loves to do.
But forget all that claptrap. Do you really want to know how good he is? Just have a gander at the UFC record books. He leads all UFC fighters—not active fighters, all fighters—with 18 total finishes and 15 submission wins. No one else has displayed dominance over a UFC career span as long as Oliveira’s, which dates back to 2010. (He’s tied for ninth with 29 total UFC fights.)
So what’s next? It’s a good thing for all of us fans, if not Oliveira himself, that he’s fighting in the what is truly the cream of the crop right now in the UFC. There’s something for everyone at 155 pounds.
There is, of course, the lure of the Irishman. Conor McGregor is purportedly eyeing a summer comeback, and a title shot would surely be tempting to him, just as a massive McGregor payday would be to Oliveira. That must be why McGregor was the only fighter Oliveira mentioned by name after the fight.
“I don’t care, just put anybody in front of me,” he told Rogan through the translator. “I’m not gonna choose. But hey, Conor McGregor, are you coming up, or are you gonna run away?”
But there’s more than money here. If I was Oliveira, I wouldn’t have said Islam Makhachev’s name either. The Dagestani Russian is the UFC’s No. 3 ranked lightweight (and soon to be higher after Gaethje falls down the list) and tearing a hole through some of the division’s best names.
Oliveira has indicated previously that Makhachev doesn’t deserve a shot. Others, ie, just about everyone else, begs to differ, given Makhachev’s otherworldly dominance to date. Time will tell. After the fight, Makhachev renewed his push.
While we wait for that to iron itself out, there’s one question we don’t need to answer, even if said answer is not one you can see or touch. Belt or no belt, Charles Oliveira is indeed the champion, and for one of the best to ever do it in the UFC, there is absolutely nothing missing.
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