5 most explosive moments from UFC 274: Charles Oliveira vs. Justin Gaethje

#2. Charles Oliveira proves he’s the UFC’s best lightweight, title or no title

Charles Oliveira remains the world's best lightweight, even if he's no longer officially UFC champion

After a hugely controversial weigh-in snafu cost him his UFC lightweight title, it felt like this weekend could turn out to be a pretty bad one for Charles Oliveira. After all, he must’ve been psychologically affected by the incident, and he was up against a remarkably dangerous foe in Justin Gaethje.

However, if ‘Do Bronx’ was at all damaged by his weight miss, he certainly didn’t show it in the octagon. Not only did he demonstrate his insane toughness once again, he also proved that title or no title, he’s the best 155lber on the planet right now.

The fight was an explosive one from the start. It was actually ‘The Highlight’ who landed first, dropping Oliveira with a pair of big punches and hurting him badly. Remarkably, though, particularly considering there were once questions around his chin, ‘Do Bronx’ got up immediately.

From there, he turned the tables on Gaethje, dropping ‘The Highlight’ with a huge right hand of his own. From there, the fight was largely over. Oliveira pounced on his fallen foe, took his back and snared him up in a rear-naked choke for the tapout.

Sure, Oliveira’s win means that the UFC lightweight title remains vacant, but nobody is likely to see it that way. Realistically, ‘Do Bronx’ remains the division’s de facto champion. Judging by this showing, he’s likely to stay in that spot for the foreseeable future.

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#1. Michael Chandler destroys Tony Ferguson with a brutal front kick

Tony Ferguson was knocked unconscious for the first time by an explosive front kick by Michael Chandler

While Charles Oliveira largely stole the show with his incredible victory over Justin Gaethje in the main event, there’s no doubt that UFC 274’s most explosive moment was produced by Michael Chandler in his bout with Tony Ferguson.

Hopes were high for a classic brawl between these two exciting lightweights. True to their word, they delivered the goods in spades. Incredibly, in the first round, it looked like it would be ‘El Cucuy’ and not Chandler who’d get his hand raised.

Ferguson took the fight to the former Bellator titleholder, hurting him with a series of clean punches that clearly wobbled his legs. It was only a takedown from ‘Iron Mike’ that slowed Ferguson down, although he couldn’t do much from the top due to 'El Cucuy's constant submission attempts.

In the second round, though, Chandler decided to switch things up. Just seconds into the stanza, he came forward and unleashed a front kick from hell that completely destroyed Ferguson, turning his lights out in an instant.

2022 has produced a number of memorable knockouts in the UFC. Given the high-profile nature of this fight as well as the fact that Ferguson had never been cleanly knocked unconscious before, this one may well go down as the best.

If nothing else, it was easily the most memorable moment from last night’s highly memorable show.