Jake Paul weighs in on controversial Charles Oliveira situation, urges Brazilian fans to "let UFC know, this isn't right"
Jake Paul has spoken out regarding the Charles Oliveira UFC 274 weigh-in controversy that saw the Brazilian champion stripped of his lightweight title after missing weight by half a pound.
What initially looked like an unfortunate story of a champion missing weight got more complicated as other fighters at the weigh-in spoke out, claiming UFC officials had informed them that the Arizona commission scale was reading a half pound over. Jake Paul highlighted the issue on Twitter writing:
"Charles Oliveira is losing his title because of a scale that is being questioned? Maybe consider a digital scale for championship fights. Brazil fans should use their voice here and let UFC know this isn’t right."
Charles Oliveira is losing his title because of a scale that is being questioned?
Maybe consider a digital scale for championship fights 🤔.
Brazil fans should use their voice here and let UFC know this isn’t right @whindersson
Regarding the scale being heavy, fellow UFC 274 fighter Ariane Carnelossi wrote:
"Congrats to the 'genius' that messed with the fighter’s scale leaving it with a 0.5lb difference. We only found out when we were informed as we were coming down to check our official weight. Luckly I was under so that didnt hurt me."
Another Twitter user replied to the comment by stating:
"We experienced a .8 shift."
@sdfsdfs72042232 @ArianeSorrisoo Team mate of chiasson
twitter.com/shereaps/statu…
Norma Dumont also missed weight by half a pound. Another UFC fighter, Casey O'Neill gave some more context to how the weigh-in process works at UFC events, writing:
"Apparently scale out the back said he was on weight and then official up front said he wasn’t. For context, we weigh in twice infront of officials before we head to the real scale, once at the hotel and once at the back of the arena. 2 scales say he is 145, official says 145.5."
Apparently scale out the back said he was on weight and then official up front said he wasn’t. For context, we weigh in twice infront of officials before we head to the real scale, once at the hotel and once at the back of the arena. 2 scales say he is 145, official says 145.5
UFC releases statement explaining why they stripped Charles Oliveira of his lightweight title
Charles Oliveira was so confident that he had made the weight for his fight against Justin Gaethje that he showed up to the weigh-ins with just five minutes left to weigh in. When he stepped on the scales at 155.5 pounds, he was given an hour to lose the extra half-pound.
Unfortunately, he was unable to lose any more weight and was still 155.5 on his second attempt.
⚖️ = 155.5lbs
Charles OIiveira has been unable to shift the final weight.
#UFC274 | Saturday | BT Sport 1 HD https://t.co/fIRlDIUIGC
The UFC announced that they'd be stripping Charles Oliveira of the title and in a statement given to Yahoo! Sports, they explained it was so Justin Gaethje would still be eligible to win the belt when they fought at UFC 274.
The statement read:
"Due to the weight miss, Oliveira will forfeit a percentage of his purse. As of this moment, Charles Oliveira remains the UFC Lightweight Champion, but upon the start of the Main Event Headliner tomorrow night he will vacate the 155-pound title. The fight will proceed as scheduled, but the championship will only be on the line for Gaethje. 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."
Statement given to me by Lenee Breckenridge, UFC pr director https://t.co/oZJ2nKxDh2