Max Holloway can only feel bad for Charles Oliveira.
Holloway will look to regain the featherweight title when he challenges Alexander Volkanovski in a trilogy fight in the co-main event of UFC 276 this weekend.
In the buildup to the fight, Holloway has been asked a lot about a former opponent he beat in Oliveira who has since become one of the best lightweights on the planet.
Unfortunately, Oliveira was stripped of his lightweight title after missing weight by half a pound for his UFC 274 headliner with Justin Gaethje.
Oliveira claims he had made weight backstage which only added to the confusion and unfortunateness of the situation.
In the end, “Do Bronx” submitted Gaethje handily, but would only become the number one contender with no title defense added to his record or resume.
And for, Holloway, history is being taken away from Oliveira.
“I feel bad for Charles man,” Holloway said on The MMA Hour. “The guy who was weighing him in was a stickler, that’s just what it is. … I don’t know what happened, man. It sucks for him. His next fight is not going to be a title defense, if he wins it. He’s winning the title back. That’s history getting taken away from Oliveira.
“I feel bad for the guy, man. He’s been going out there, doing his thing. Half a pound, bro? Come on. I feel bad for the guy for sure.”
Max Holloway: Getting Stripped Hurts Charles Oliveira
In reference to the stickler part, Holloway believes the scale was dangling too much while Oliveira was weighing in and that he didn’t get a fair shot at making 155.
In the end, what’s happened has happened, and now Oliveira will have to fight someone else — likely Islam Makhachev — to become the lightweight champion.
But even if he accomplishes that goal, getting stripped of the belt hurts him in more ways than one according to Holloway.
“It hurts him a lot, hurts his legacy, probably hurts him contract-wise. So, we’ll see what’ll happen,” he added.
You can watch the clip below:
.@BlessedMMA "feels bad" for @CharlesDoBronxs, who lost his belt on the scale before UFC 274 ⚖️ #TheMMAHour
"The guy who was weighing him in was a stickler… That’s history getting taken away from Oliveira.”
Full interview with @arielhelwani ▶️ https://t.co/klTcDPZ3KB pic.twitter.com/w9NFc87jNF
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) June 28, 2022
