Charles Oliveira’s dad was devastated that his son had been stripped of the lightweight title.
Charles Oliveira was upset about losing the UFC lightweight title, but his family seemed to have taken it the hardest.
Oliveira revealed his father broke down in tears after finding out his son had been stripped of the belt just hours before what was supposed to be his second title defense against Justin Gaethje at UFC 274.
Oliveira won the fight via first-round submission but was ineligible to defend the title because he had missed weight before the matchup, weighing in just half a pound over the 155-pound championship limit.
“Man, my dad called me, desperate — crying like a child. And I was like, ‘Calm down, don’t worry, we’ll fix this,’ and such. But my dad was just crying,” Oliveira revealed during a recent appearance on the Podpah podcast (h/t Sportskeeda).
Oliveira will get the chance to win back what he feels was stolen from him by the Arizona Athletic Commission when he meets Dagestan’s Islam Makhachev for the vacant lightweight championship in the UFC 280 main event. Although he is no longer the champ, “Do Bronx” will be treating the matchup as a title defense.
“The belt is already mine,” Oliveira said in a separate interview with Sports Illustrated. “To me, this is another title defense… I made weight, I’m sure I made weight. I feel like I was robbed. It was really hard – I heard my dad crying, my daughter was questioning why I lost the belt. It was very upsetting, it went against all the dedication I put into this. But the most important part was that I showed my championship mentality. Even after all that happened, I pulled through and still put on a show for everyone.”
UFC 280: Oliveira vs. Makhachev will take place on Oct. 22 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.