Charles Oliveira, who already holds records in the UFC for most wins, most finishes, most submission wins – a record that is split into two smaller records of submission wins in light- and featherweight – plus two more records for most bonuses, finally set a record that nobody wants: on Friday at the weigh-ins, he was half a kilogram over championship weight, meaning he became the first titleholder in UFC history to forfeit their belt on the scale.

Since the news broke there has been a lot of speculation as to how this happened. UFC President Dana White blames the international fighters for tinkering with the scales too much while changing the units from kg to lb and vice versa, the fighters themselves have talked indirectly about how this commission (UFC 274 took place in Arizona) isn't as professional as the one in Nevada.

Either way, Oliveira looked like death on the scales and his opponent Justin Gaethje jumped at the chance to get extra digs in. After all, the rules say that he could still win the lightweight championship even though the champion had been stripped.

Gaethje said this was a sign that Oliveira was a quitter, referencing his early career losses where he would give in when he started getting overmatched, and that this failure to make weight harkens back to his time at featherweight where he came in too heavy four times. Perhaps the pressure of being champion was getting to him.

If this very blunt attempt at mind games had any effect, it wasn’t visible to the naked eye. With dyed blond hair, oversized red sunglasses and a bright red suit, Oliveira arrived at the arena with the vibes of a villain from One Piece and maintained it during his ring walk when he came out looking cool, calm, collected and completely rehydrated – normal in every way.

Then the bell rang, two men met in the center of the ring and as Gaethje swung to hit Oliveira with a leg kick, Oliveira clipped his opponent with a straight that got him flush on the chin confirming that he didn't simply look normal, he was operating at full strength too.

Stung, Gaethje moved back and Oliveira clinched him against the cage. Gaethje rotated free and reset position in the middle of the Octagon, only to be clocked again.

Gaethje's nickname is "The Highlight" because of his ability to create highlight reel moments, primarily knockouts that come from his heavy handedness. Lesser considered is that this power is secondary to his ability to fight back while hurt, to swing for the fences while out on his feet.

So when Oliveira thought he had his opponent hurt in the same fashion twice and went for the kill, he walked into an uppercut that knocked him to the ground.

This – Oliveira getting stunned by Gathje’s counterpunching - happened twice and it ended up being Oliveira's key to victory. Both times he went down, he instinctively went into an open guard position and Gaethje remained standing. Typically the fighter who gets the knockdown will follow their opponent to the mat to try and get a finish, but Gaethje knew that was where Oliveira was at his best (the aforementioned record is 16 submission wins) so he would wait for the fight to get stood up again to continue.

The next time the two engaged, Oliveira closed the distance and instead of pressing forwards with strike combinations or attempting a takedown, he dropped backwards and pulled Gaethje into his guard – and Gaethje instantly stood up and backed off.

The trap was set. Oliveira knew his challenger not only had nothing on the ground but was too scared to even try. Justin Gaethje is a self-admitted limited fighter; on this night he was simply one-dimensional. Oliveira knew the counter left hook was coming, defended it and put a another straight right handing the pipe and when Gaehtje went to the ground, this time he leapt on him from the side, taking his back.

Gaethje is strong and he forced his way out of the first triangle attempt. In doing so, he left himself open to the rear naked choke and as it got cinched in tighter and tighter the man who accused Oliveira of being a quitter tapped out.

Charles Oliveira won by submission in three minutes and 22 seconds of the first round, continuing his win streak to 11. It was a world class performance, and under any other circumstances would have been a championship performance too.