Charles Oliveira’s dominance in the lightweight division continued with an exhilarating first-round submission win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 274.
But the belt is vacant after Oliveira failed to make the weight at 155lbs, which meant the Brazilian became the first reigning UFC champion to be stripped of a title before the bout.
American Gaethje would have taken the belt if he had won and he came close.
He twice knocked Oliveira down but was forced to submit in a frenetic contest.
Oliveira, 32, who was half a pound over the limit at Friday’s weigh-in, recovered quickly from both knockdowns and then dropped Gaethje with a crisp right hand.
He then locked in a rear naked choke which forced the American to tap in a relentless fight in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Brazilian extended his winning streak to 11 and will now fight for the vacant title.
“There’s something wrong here,” Oliveira said in his post-fight interview.
“The champion’s name is Charles Oliveira. I made weight Thursday and you took my belt away. I’m a problem for the entire division. I am the champion. This is my title. It should be here.”
Oliveira then called out former UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, saying: “You coming up or you’re going to run away?”
Gaethje is now 0-2 in undisputed world title fights having lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title in October 2020.
Esparza claims gold in upset
Carla Esparza defeated Rose Namajunas with a split-decision victory to become a two-time strawweight champion.
The fight was largely uneventful with minimal activity throughout the five rounds and generated plenty of negative reviews from fans online for a lack of action.
However, Esparza did just enough to earn scores of 49-46 and 48-47 from two judges. Namajunas won 48-47 on the scorecard of one judge.
Neither fighter seemed interested in taking any risks in the fight.
Esparza, 34, did score two takedowns in the fourth round but was never close to finishing Namajunas.
The new champion and Namajunas are the only women strawweight fighters with multiple title reigns in the division.
