Joe Rogan Says Charles Oliveira ‘Got Screwed’ at UFC 274 Weigh-In

Oliveira (33-8-0) was stripped of his lightweight championship after weighing 0.5 pounds over the lightweight championship bout limit of 155 pounds. Oliveira was given one additional hour to cut the excess weight after his initial weigh-in. 60 minutes later, ‘Do Bronx’ stepped on the scale, again weighing 155.5 pounds. 

As a result, Oliveira was stripped of his title on the scale, but the bout would proceed as scheduled with only Justin Gaethje eligible to win the now vacant championship. 

The moment was especially shocking considering Oliveira tweeted the night before the weigh-ins that he was already on weight for the scheduled contest.

As details began to emerge about potential tampering with the pre-fight scale, fighters and fans began to call out the Arizona State Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts Commission for their poor handling of the situation. This included UFC commentator and perennial controversial figure, Joe Rogan.

Joe Rogan Believes Charles Oliveira “Got Screwed” Due to “Shenanigans With the Scale”

“He’s a very, very nice guy, and he got screwed in his last fight,” Rogan said on an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. “There was some shenanigans with the scale. Some people had messed with the scale. Here’s a problem with these digital scales: Foreign fighters, they use kilograms and in America, obviously we use pounds.

“These scales are calibrated and then the foreign fighters would reset the scale so they could switch it back to kilograms. So it f*cks up the whole calibration. He weighed in the night before the weigh-ins, and he was like, ‘Oh, I’m good to go.’ And then in the morning, he goes and shows up for the weight cut, and it’s a pound plus off, and that is directly related to this calibration thing.”

To prevent further issues going forward, Dana White announced that the promotion will have security on hand at all times to ensure that the scales are not tampered with or reset in any way as fighters weigh in ahead of their official weigh-ins.

“Now the UFC has a new policy because of this, where they have a guard who watches over the scale 24 hours a day,” Rogan said. “Like, they have shifts where no one can f*ck with the scale. If you’re gonna get on that scale to try yourself, they’re gonna watch you like a hawk, and you don’t press any buttons. You just get on, what’s your weight, get off. That’s it. These guys were monkeying around with the scale.”

Rogan placed some of the blame on the athletic commission due to their lack of handling big events recently but did acknowledge that all, but one other fighter made weight that day.

“It’s Phoenix. That’s what it is, and it’s not a knock on Phoenix. I love Phoenix. It’s just that the people that are there don’t do high-level world championship MMA fights on a regular basis. They do a few. We’ve had a good time there. They’ve had some good events there, but they just made a mistake. They’ll let these guys do it. There should have been someone watching the scale, and the scale was off, and that’s a fact. Look, it’s not the best excuse because Justin Gaethje made weight. Everybody else made weight except one of the women that fought earlier in the night, but that’s it.”

Despite being stripped of the lightweight championship, Oliveira remained focused and submitted opponent Justin Gaethje in the first round of their UFC 274 bout. As a result, the championship remains vacant, but Oliveira is the No. 1 contender and will have the opportunity to regain the crown he technically never lost.

Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images