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Oliveira submits Gaethje, UFC lightweight title remains vacant

Jeff Bottari / UFC / Getty

Charles Oliveira topped Justin Gaethje on Saturday, and the lightweight division is officially in flux.

Oliveira submitted Gaethje with a rear-naked choke at the 3:22 mark of the first round in the UFC 274 main event Saturday night in Phoenix.

The fight was supposed to be Oliveira's second title defense, but the UFC stripped him of the belt after he missed weight by 0.5 pounds Friday. As a result of his victory, the title remains vacant. Oliveira's next fight will be for the vacant championship against an opponent yet to be determined.

The fight was wild for its entire duration, starting when Oliveira hurt Gaethje with a right hand in the opening seconds. Gaethje fired back, dropping Oliveira twice - first with a left hook and then with a right. Oliveira appeared to be quite hurt and pulled guard, trying to lure Gaethje to the ground. As one of the best grapplers in the sport, Oliveira owns the most submission wins in UFC history.

Oliveira stayed in the fight and continued to trade big shots with Gaethje in the frenetic opening round. The beginning of the end was when "Do Bronx" knocked down Gaethje with a right. Oliveira went to the ground and initially looked for a triangle choke but then transitioned to a rear-naked choke, sunk it in, and forced the tap from the challenger.

Afterward, Oliveira said he considers himself the rightful champion, referencing a reported issue with the weigh-in scale. He also mentioned Conor McGregor as a potential next opponent.

"Conor McGregor, are you coming, or are you running?" Oliveira said in his postfight interview, according to MMA Fighting's Guilherme Cruz.

Oliveira extended his winning streak to 11 with the victory. The Brazilian fighter became the lightweight champion in May 2021 with a knockout win over Michael Chandler and then retained the title once by submitting Dustin Poirier in December. Oliveira has not lost a fight since 2017.

Gaethje was coming off a unanimous decision win over Chandler in a candidate for "Fight of the Year" from November. This was Gaethje's second opportunity to capture UFC undisputed gold after challenging Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2020. He defeated Tony Ferguson for the interim belt earlier that year to earn that title shot.

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