‘He Wasn’t Stumbling Around’- Dustin Poirier Believes Charles Oliveira Didn’t Push Himself to Make Weight at UFC 274; Wants Digital Scales
UFC lightweight star Dustin Poirier appeared on ‘The Fight with Teddy Atlas’ and reflected on Charles Oliveira’s weight miss that went down at UFC 274. ‘Do Bronx’ came in 0.5 pounds over the championship limit and ended up being stripped of his status as the 155-pound champion.
‘The Diamond’ advocated for a change in the current weighing system and talked about introducing digital scales for the fighter weigh-ins. This would negate the human error aspect that arises when the weighing scale is analog and being operated by a commission member.
UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira missed the 155-lb weight limit by half a pound at UFC 274 weigh-ins.
He has less than an hour to cut the half pound for his bout vs. Justin Gaethje to remain a title fight. pic.twitter.com/kr9k9kgeOr
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 6, 2022
“We need to be on digital scales so there’s no grey area. You can’t have a guy there tapping a weight-balance scale and it’s kind of balancing, and he just says it’s a half-pound or whatever. We need exact numbers. You get on a digital scale, it shows up on the screen, that’s your actual weight. I don’t like the fact that these guys are tapping this balance scale.”
‘He still had life in his body’- Dustin Poirier on Charles Oliveira’s weight miss
Additionally, Dustin Poirier also commented on how Charles Oliveira could have done more in order to make the 155-pound limit. Per Poirier, Oliveira was able to move about without any assistance and hence had some more energy left in the tank to shed off the remaining 0.5 pounds.
“They weren’t carrying him out. He wasn’t stumbling around. He’s always really lean, and he’s long and tall, so he looks slim. He’s a big guy, but he didn’t look like he needed to be helped. He still had life in his body. He could have, it looked like, tried to lose more weight. It’s a championship fight.” [h/t bjpenn.com]
Despite the weight miss, Charles Oliveira is still looked at as the best lightweight fighter on the planet. Many fans believe he has what it takes to put forth a lengthy reign and even surpass Khabib Nurmagomedov’s stature as the figurehead of the lightweight division.
‘Do Bronx’ is on an 11-fight win streak and it seems like all the pieces are falling together for the Brazilian.
