UFC Official Marc Ratner Says UFC 274 Scale Could Have Been Tampered With
UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner said that scale was accurate when Charles Oliveira tried to make weight for UFC 274, but admitted there is a possibility something could have knocked it.
“Well, first of all, let me say that the official scale, which is the one they weighed in on Friday with the athletic commission … 28 of the fighters made weight,” Ratner said Tuesday on Sirius XM’s “Unlocking the Cage.”
“So I’m very, very sure that there was nothing untoward on that scale. That scale was accurate.
“What people are talking about, the night before, there’s a scale where the fighters can come down and check their weight. Some fighters wanted to change the scale from pounds to kilograms, which you can do, and I think that may have knocked it – we don’t have any proof of anything, but it may have knocked the (practice) scale-out of calibration.”
“When we found out that there was a problem with the Scale early on Friday morning somewhere around 8 or 8:30, we got another scale that was calibrated and put it out there.”
Oliveira came in a half-pound over the lightweight limit – 155.5 pounds – and was stripped of his title when he was unable to make the needed weight on a second attempt and after given an extra hour to do so.
The main event went on as planned, but only Justin Gaethje – who successfully made weight – had the ability to win the now-vacant title.
Still, it didn’t take long for Oliveira to redeem himself. He submitted Gaethje in the first round. The win secured his spot as the No. 1 contender for the now vacant title.
Oliveira was taken aback by his loss after tweeting that he was on track the morning before official weigh-ins.
After UFC 274, UFC President Dana White described the scenario as “a nightmare.”
White said he plans to have security to stand guard at the scale that the fighters use the night before. Ratner, on the other hand, shut down suggestions to change the scales used by the UFC.
“Digital scales sometimes you’ll get tenths of ounces, a pound is 16 ounces so you’d hate to have a regular fight and the weight is supposed to be [155 pounds] and you get up to 156 and on the digital scale you could weigh 156.2,” Ratner explained. “Well that doesn’t make sense either.
“We’ve always used the meat scale, it’s accurate, it’s balanced, it’s calibrated, so I have no problem using it. We’ve been successful using it for the past 15 years that I’ve been doing it.”