It lasted less than five minutes, and he doesn’t walk out champion, but Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje brought action in their UFC 274 main event
He didn’t walk out the champion, but Charles Oliveira gets to walk out with another chance to win the UFC lightweight title back following his win over Justin Gaethje in the main event of UFC 274.
Oliveira lost the UFC lightweight title on the scale one day ago, coming in at 155.5 pounds. Only Gaethje was eligible to win the championship tonight.
Gaethje landed several hard leg kicks to start, but Oliveira rocked him with a hard strike. Gaethje, however, managed to recover and drop Gaethje twice, busting Oliveira open over his left eye. Both times, however, Gaethje didn’t follow Oliveira to the ground.
The two then began to fight in close. But the end came when Oliveira knocked Gaethje down with a right hand and scrambled all over him, eventually locking in a rear-naked choke to score the tap in the first round.
Fighters react to Charles Oliveira earning another title opportunity with submission of Justin Gaethje at UFC 274
https://twitter.com/MAKHACHEVMMA/status/1523165698285084672
So much happened in the 3 and a bit minutes of that fight!! #UFC274
— Alex Volkanovski (@alexvolkanovski) May 8, 2022
Seriously….who beats @CharlesDoBronxs at 155?! So crisp! #WhosNext #UFC274
— Wonderboy (@WonderboyMMA) May 8, 2022
Blondeviera is a bad mfer ! Sucks he lost the belt over .5 lb. Get a new scale ! #ufc274
— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunson) May 8, 2022
Man he’s a monster
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) May 8, 2022
Sad 💔☹#UFC274
— Diana Belbiță (@DianaBelbita) May 8, 2022
What a performance by Charles Oliveira #UFC274
— Thiago Moisés (@ThiagoMoisesMMA) May 8, 2022
Congrats champ ✊🏾 that was a beautiful first round fight #UFC274
— Terrance McKinney (@twrecks155) May 8, 2022
HE IS TOO FUCKING GOOD 🤯🤯🤯@CharlesDoBronxs @ufc
— Lando Vannata (@GroovyLando) May 8, 2022
Monstro charles Oliveira que vitória 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
— Renato Moicano UFC (@moicanoufc) May 8, 2022
Boaaaa @CharlesDoBronxs ! What an amazing round #UFC274
— Casey Oneill (@kingcaseymma) May 8, 2022
That’s a wrap 🐍 #UFC274
— Kay Hansen (@KayHansenMMA) May 8, 2022
I tried to tell em!! LFG @CharlesDoBronxs 🔥🙌 #UFC274
— Vince Morales (@vandetta135) May 8, 2022
Olivera is just a damn beast 😤 #UFC274
— Adrian Yañez (@yanezmma) May 8, 2022
That had me on my toes.. Back and forth fight! Loved it!
— Mason Jones (@MasonJones1995) May 8, 2022
Oliveira entered this bout with 11 wins in his 12 fights since moving to lightweight, including his last 10 straight. Oliveira won the then-vacant UFC lightweight title with a finish of Michael Chandler at UFC 262. He successfully retained against Dustin Poirier at UFC 269.
Gaethje entered this bout with his own win over Chandler at UFC 268. He claimed interim UFC lightweight gold with a win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 249. He lost his undisputed title fight to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 254.