UFC legend Georges St-Pierre gave his thoughts on Charles Oliveira weigh in controversy.
As a reminder, Oliveira was stripped of the title due to missing weight by 0,5 lbs.
‘Rush’ also named one fighter that could beat Charles Oliveira.
The Brazilian got stripped of his lightweight title and was demoted to number one contender. Not to mention that the scale might’ve been miscalibrated by athletes checking their weight in different metric systems.
Georges St-Pierre discussed this matter with SPORTbible.
The former two-division champion said there is no excuse for not making weight as it’s part of professional fighters’ job. ‘GSP’ also thinks it would be unfair for the opponent who worked hard to cut weight.
“You did not make weight and if you don’t make weight, it’s not fair for your opponent. Your opponent has to go through a lot of grinds to make weight. It’s something that can change the result of the fight. You need to be professional and make weight. I don’t think it’s the first time it happened to him but this being said, he’s just an incredible fighter.” GSP said.
This is particularly interesting as a take considering that Helwani pointed the finger at the UFC and Georges St Pierre for past weigh in controversy.
“And in case you’re gonna sit there and say, ‘Call out you’re boy DC.’ Of course, and I’ve called him out to his face. In Buffalo, he didn’t make the weight, he held on to the towel. GSP in Montreal – my other boy – he was over 170 and they rounded it down.”
“So time and again, people in championship fights have been over. If you think your that your favorite champion fighter hasn’t been over back in the day… you’re fooling yourself.”
That wasn’t the first time Charles Oliveira has missed weight. ‘Do Bronx’ has fought at catchweight three times in total under the UFC banner. Seeing this, GSP suggested Oliveira to just move up to the welterweight division.
“Who knows maybe he is too big for his own weight class, maybe he needs to go at welterweight.” GSP said.
What St Pierre wasn’t aware of – is that Oliveira was previously cutting down to 145lbs not 155 – and as such it makes very little sense for him to move up to welterweight.
Charles Oliveira walks around at 176 to 180 pounds and wouldn’t need to cut weight to reach welterweight cap (170 pounds). However, GSP suggested this so that Oliveira could avoid Islam Makhachev.
He added, “But he’s truly the best man right now, the best man in the division and I think there’s only one guy that can maybe pose a threat to him now. There’s a guy Islam Makhachev. Now, the table is set for this fight.”
This is especially funny when we consider that Makhachev barely edged out a victory against the unranked ADCC gold medalist Davi Ramos – and avoided ground exchanges.
Charles Oliveira has defeated Justin Gaethje and is now set to fight for the vacant title. Oliveira has stated that he won’t be picky about his opponent and would fight anyone the UFC offers up.