Islam Makhachev criticises Charles Oliveira after being stripped of title

Oliveira was stripped of his belt after missing weight before UFC 274 and his lightweight rival Makhachev has since labelled him “unprofessional”

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Khabib makes UFC title demand after Charles Oliveira’s latest win

Islam Makhachev has labelled Charles Oliveira as “unprofessional” for missing weight before his win against Justin Gaethje at UFC 274.

Oliveira was due to make the second defence of his lightweight title against Gaethje at the event, but he was stripped of the belt after missing weight by half a pound. The Brazilian was visibly confused whilst weighing in and insisted he made the 155lb limit whilst backstage.

UFC officials have confirmed that the official scale was accurate for the event’s weigh-ins, despite several fighters protesting it was miscalibrated. And Makhachev has criticised Oliveira for not cutting the extra half a pound in the hour that the UFC gave him before the fight.

“We don’t have a champion now because Charles Oliveira missed weight and it’s unprofessional,” he told ESPN. “You have to show people that you’re professional when your champion. I think they have to make me versus Charles, 10 win streak versus 11 win streak. It’s a very big fight.

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“He had half a pound left and the UFC gave him one hour to cut this, but this guy isn’t professional that’s why they took his belt. I agree he is the number one contender now, but somebody else has to fight [him] for the title. Who else is going to fight with Oliveira now? We have nobody, [Justin] Gaethje, [Tony] Ferguson, [Dustin] Poirier, or [Michael] Chandler. Who can be next?”

UFC president Dana White admitted Oliveira’s weight miss caused the promotion a “nightmare” but insisted the Brazilian will “100 per cent” compete for the belt in his next fight. Makhachev thinks Oliveira’s past opponents have made mistakes by not following him to the ground after knocking him down. Confident that he can outclass the grappling wizard on the mat, Makhachev vowed to expose Oliveira on the ground if they fight.

“His grappling skills are not gonna work with me… Poirier and Chandler, all these guys have good striking but nobody goes to grappling with Oliveira when they drop him. Nobody holds him there, but we know when someone gives him a hard time he always give up,” Makhachev continued.

“Everybody is scared about his grappling, but I don’t care about his grappling. I have grappled with Khabib all my life, I know I’m gonna take him down make him tired and I can finish him there. People say grappling is his area, but I’m going to finish him there.”