5 most controversial weight misses in UFC history

#2. Yoel Romero vs. Robert Whittaker – UFC 225

Yoel Romero missed weight by less than half a pound at UFC 225, but was still made ineligible to win the middleweight title

When Yoel Romero knocked out Luke Rockhold in the headline bout at UFC 221, he should’ve been crowned the interim middleweight champion. However, because the Cuban Olympic silver medalist failed to hit the 185-pound championship limit, instead coming in at 187.7 pounds, he was ineligible to win the title, meaning his victory was somewhat spoiled.

Still, ‘The Soldier of God’ was widely recognized as the top contender for the title thanks to his victory, and it came as no surprise when the UFC matched him with the returning champion Robert Whittaker just four months later in a full title bout.

Incredibly, though, Romero would blow his shot at gold for the second time in a row. This time, he came in initially at 186 pounds. After an additional two hours, he came in at 185.2, just 0.2 pounds over the limit, but over it nonetheless.

Quite how he’d managed to miss the mark remains a mystery today, but it was clear that ‘The Soldier of God’ had nothing left to give, as he appeared to be in agony on the scale and had to be helped backstage by his team.

As for the fight, it was duly declared a non-title bout. When Whittaker won via split decision, it practically saved Romero of the embarrassment of being unable to claim UFC gold due to a weight miss for the second time in a row.

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#1. Charles Oliveira vs. Justin Gaethje – UFC 274

Despite beating Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira's weigh-in botch meant he lost his title anyway

The most recent entry on this list may well be the most controversial, too, as to date it’s the only weight miss that ended up resulting in a reigning UFC champion being stripped of their title. The champion in question was, of course, lightweight kingpin Charles Oliveira.

However, Oliveira’s weight miss for his bout with Justin Gaethje at UFC 274 wasn’t exactly a regular error. According to a number of fighters, including undercard combatant Ariane Carnelossi, the scales being used by athletes at the hotel prior to the weigh-ins had been altered somehow, resulting in chaos when it came to the real thing.

In the end, 20 of the 28 fighters due to compete at UFC 274 came in at least half a pound over the championship limit, with featherweight Norma Dumont missing her mark entirely. However, while the likes of Tony Ferguson and Mauricio Rua weren’t affected by coming in half a pound heavy, Oliveira was, resulting in him being ineligible to win the lightweight title, forcing the UFC to strip him.

So what exactly happened? According to Dana White, the issue stemmed from the fact that some of the European fighters in action on the card changed the calibration of the hotel’s scales from pounds to kilograms, causing a huge amount of chaos, and resulting in Oliveira’s miss.

The UFC president went onto state that he’ll employ a security guard to watch over the hotel scales in the future. Of course, that won’t give Oliveira his title back, and ‘Do Bronx’ will have to make do with another shot at it in his next fight.