A night full of bizarre outcomes makes the question “what’s next?” more complicated than usual after UFC 274.
A title change of some sort was guaranteed even before the main event began on Saturday at the Footprint Arena in Phoenix, Ariz., since lightweight champion Charles Oliveira had missed weight the day before. That unprecedented fiasco meant that his scheduled matchup with Justin Gaethje was a title fight for the challenger only: Gaethje could win the belt by defeating Oliveira, but the title would be vacated if Oliveira won. The latter case held true, as “do Bronx” got the best of a wild three minutes, getting knocked down twice before coming back to rock “The Highlight” with a salvo of his own, then taking things to the ground.