UFC President Dana White said the promotion will take a drastic measure to make sure the “nightmare” scenario of Charles Oliveira’s UFC 274 weigh-in doesn’t happen again.
The measure, he said after Oliveira defeated Justin Gaethje on Saturday, is a security guard to stand watch over a scale that the promotion calibrates to mirror the one used by the state athletic commission overseeing the event. White indicated that non-U.S. fighters may have been responsible for altering the promotion’s scale used at UFC 274, possibly resulting in inaccurate readings.
“We have this issue where guys come out and they’ll start checking the scale the night before and all the Europeans and guys from other parts of the world do kilos, so they all start f****** with the scale to look at kilos and, who knows… ,” White told reporters after the pay-per-view event at Footprint Center in Phoenix. “There’s so many moving parts to this beast of a machine that we run every week, and we’ve got to have a security guard in there where the scale is now. It’s something we’re going to have to do.”
Oliveira was stripped of the title when he stepped into the octagon on Saturday, the consequence of a half-pound overage in the 155-pound lightweight title fight. He went on to defeat Justin Gaethje in the first round, recovering from early trouble to submit the former interim champ. Because he had been stripped, his win only guaranteed him the No. 1 contender spot, a fact White confirmed to the Brazilian after he hopped over the octagon to celebrate.
In the wake of Oliveira’s weight miss, which came after his second attempt at making 155 pounds, he swore that he made weight the night prior to the official weigh-ins on Friday. But on a last-minute check, he said he discovered he was 2.2 pounds over and was forced to cut weight again.
Oliveira also cited other fighters who had issues with the scale, several of whom alleged the difference between the promotion’s scale and the official one varied between a half-pound up to two pounds. UFC flyweight Matt Schnell wrote on social media that the promotion warned them that the unofficial scale was off.
The Arizona State Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts Commission, which regulated UFC 274, released a statement after the weigh-in mishap clarifying that the official scale was calibrated correctly and added “any scales used for any purpose other than official weigh-ins (such as those that may be used for fighters to unofficially test their weight) are not calibrated or inspected by commission staff as they are typically provided by the promoter.”
The commission, however, did not have explicit authority over the UFC title, which is awarded by the promotion. Previously, the UFC indicated it would call a fighter the champ despite a weight miss when lightweight Al Iaquinta came in heavy for a last-second title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov if he won at UFC 223.
“As far as the commission goes, Khabib is the one that’s eligible for the title,” White then said. “But obviously, if ‘Ragin’ Al wins this fight, he’s the champ.”
White indicated Oliveira will occupy a similar status following UFC 274, no matter what happened officially on the scales.
“He’s the guy,” 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.”
White reacted in horror when he first heard that Oliveira was the last fighter to weigh in on Friday morning.
“No…oh my f****** god,” he said of his reaction. “It’s the worst thing that can happen during a … [UFC executive] Lenee Breckenridge … hit me with all the people, and I hit her back and said, ‘No Oliveira?’ And she’s like, ‘He’s up next.’
“So I was like, oh s***. Why’s he last, and the worst that could possibly happen happened.”
Possible contenders like Islam Makhachev, Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier all chimed in to get a shot at the official No. 1 contender after Saturday’s event. The one thing White can say for sure is that Oliveira will “100 percent” be fighting for the belt he lost on the scales.
Hey cheap fuck get two separate scales
Hmmmm Interesting
PHOENIX – After submitting Justin Gaethje on Saturday night, the first thing Charles Oliveira did was hop over the cage and look for Dana White.
He found the UFC boss sitting cageside, and they shared a brief moment. What Oliveira said isn’t clear, but you could reasonably assume the gist of it by listening to White’s response, which was picked up by ESPN+ microphones.
“You didn’t make weight,” White told Oliveira amidst the noise of a raucous crowd at Footprint Center. “I know. You didn’t make weight. You’re the No. 1 contender.”
The reason Oliveira (33-8 MMA, 21-8 UFC) is the No. 1 contender and not still the lightweight champion after UFC 274 is because he missed weight by a half-pound Friday morning, which forced him to vacate the title he won last year. Normally missing weight – especially for a title fight – is a black-and-white issue. This one, however, contains shades of gray after several fighters publicly questioned the accuracy of the scale – a scale that Tony Ferguson wiggled on prior to Oliveira taking his turn.
There were also rumblings about the accuracy of the digital scale being used backstage to check weights before stepping on the traditional official scale approved by the Arizona Boxing and MMA Commission.
All of this is to say that it feels, to many, like a raw deal for Oliveira to be stripped of his title over half-a-pound pound given the confusion surrounding the scales.
“It’s a nightmare. I mean, it’s a nightmare,” White said of the situation during the UFC 274 post-fight news conference. “We have this issue where guys come out, and they’ll start checking the (UFC’s) scale the night before. All the Europeans and guys from other parts of the world do kilos, so they all start f*cking with the scale to look at kilos. And who knows?”
Nobody apparently. As far the UFC is concerned, Oliviera missed weight. The Arizona commission, meanwhile, issued a statement essentially absolving itself from any blame.
As a result of the scale controversy, White announced a measure the UFC plans to take moving forward.
“There’s so many moving parts to this beast of a machine that we run every week,” White said. “We’ve got to have a security guard where the scale is now. It’s something we’re gonna have to do.”
The good news for Oliveira, however, is that White said he will still receive pay-per-view points for UFC 274. He’s also “a hundred percent” assured to be involved in the next lightweight title fight.
“Listen, he’s the guy. He’s the guy,” White said. “He didn’t make weight. We have rules. He didn’t make the weight. The belt is vacant. I’m sure in the minds of the media and fight fans, Oliveira is the champion. You know? But technically he’s the No. 1 contender now. He’s the guy.”
Oliveira knows he’s “the guy,” regardless of the circumstances.
“We were all sure that we made weight on Thursday,” Oliveira told reporters through an interpreter. “It’s in our hands. They’re not going to take that away from us. I went into the octagon to defend the title. I don’t have to get it back. The champion is Charles Oliveira, and we all know that.”
Sure, every card they switch from kg to lbs. with the scale but only on the title fight in gaethjes hometown it messes up sure,
: The Scale . The Scale , Boss The Scale "
Dana’s not thinking clearly.
Arrange a sponsorship with a scale manufacturer. Every fighter on every card gets their own scale from ACME SCALE CO. Plaster the brand name everywhere as the UFC usually does.
Except. Make this arrangement with a scale manufacturer, intercept the free scales, charge the fighters the retail price for them plus 10% for the privilege of using official UFC sanctioned scales…
bumppp
The OFFICIAL scale of the UFC, and the ONLY one I use!
*that should be worth some endorsement cash that will never actually reach the fighters.
And why do you mess with the scale if you won’t to look at kg? Kilos.
Why not just do it the USA wrestling way - you can challenge the official scale with one of the test scales provide by the UFC that the competitor claims they made weight on.
All sounds like bullshit.
fucked over oliviera in a sketchy way so he decided to fuck justins face
The fact that Dana says that Europeans or whatever were fucking with the scale and could have messed it up already sheds reasonable doubt and Charles should get his title back.
You can’t say yeah maybe the scale was tampered with then say no you 100% missed weight, especially by suck a small amount
yessir