PHOENIX — Charles Oliveira might have lost his title on the scale Friday, but by Saturday night everyone knew where the belt belonged.

Less than 36 hours after having to vacate his lightweight championship because he missed weight by a half-pound, Oliveira left no doubt who rules the UFC’s 155-pound division with a command performance over Arizona native Justin Gaethje in the UFC 274 main event at Footprint Center.

Any thoughts that the forward-fighting Gaethje would crumble an emotionally distraught Oliveira were vanquished early as Oliveira cracked the former interim champion in the opening seconds.

“I knew this was going to happen. I’m like a war tank. I keep on moving forward,” the Brazilian former champion said through a translator. “I knew that I was going to get hit and I knew I was going to hit him. As I said a couple of times, ‘Who wants it more?’ It all came down to who wanted it more.”

Though Oliveira, 32, appeared to be willing to engage from the opening seconds, he still had to shake off being dropped twice by the all-offense Gaethje. Then Oliveira delivered a knockdown of his own with a straight right. And on the Octagon canvas, Oliveira (33-8, 1 NC) is an artist.

In no time, Oliveira went to work, getting Gaethje’s back and cinching in a rear-naked choke. Gaethje (23-4) couldn’t escape and went unconscious, with referee Marc Goddard stopping the fight at 3:20 of the first round.

Due to Oliveira’s weigh-in fiasco, Gaethje was the only one who could win the title Saturday, but per the UFC, Oliveira could cement his spot as the No. 1 contender for the vacant title with a victory.

UFC President Dana White reassured everyone at the postfight press conference that Oliveira was “100 percent” getting the next title sshot.

“Listen, he’s the guy. He’s the guy,” White said. “He didn’t make weight. We have rules. He didn’t make the weight. The belt is vacant. I’m sure in the minds of the media and fight fans, Oliveira is the champion, you know? But technically he’s the No. 1 contender now. He’s the guy.”

White seemed to validate Oliveira’s claim that the backstage scale had been tampered with, but had no consolation other than rules are rules and it will not happen again, suggesting the UFC would probably have to hire a security guard in the future.

“It’s a nightmare,” White said. “We have this issue where guys come out, and they’ll start checking the scale the night before. All the Europeans and guys from other parts of the world do kilos, so they all start (messing) with the scale to look at kilos. And who knows?”

Whom Oliveira’s next opponent will be is anyone’s guess. The UFC could wait for the winner of Placentia’s Beneil Dariush vs. Islam Makhachev, which was supposed to take place in late February before Dariush suffered a leg injury.

Former Bellator lightweight great Michael Chandler, who was knocked out by Oliveira in their fight for the vacant title a year ago, made a great case for himself Saturday with his highlight-reel front-kick knockout of Tony Ferguson.

Chandler also paid his respect to the former champ: “Shame on all of us for ever, ever doubting Charles Oliveira.”

And then there’s everyone’s favorite call-out: show-stopping cash cow Conor McGregor, who is still recovering from his broken ankle suffered against Dustin Poirier in July.

Either way, there is no “non-champion” champion with greater buzz in the UFC right now. Oliveira awaits reclaiming his gold while riding an 11-fight winning streak and looking to add to his dizzying UFC records: most finishes (19), most submissions (16) and most post-fight bonuses (18).

Esparza wins ‘weird’ title fight

“I hate to say it this way, but it’s hard to fight someone that doesn’t want to fight.”

That was Carla Esparza roughly two hours after winning her strawweight title rematch with Rose Namajunas via split decision in the co-main event, seven-and-a-half years after their first scrap in which Esparza became the first 115-pound champion in UFC history at the end of 2014.

The inaction between Esparza and Namajunas had the crowd booing early and often. White called it a “weird fight” and admitted, “I started zoning out like halfway through it.”

Each fighter landed just three punches in the first round. By the end of the five-round fight, they had totaled 68 strikes over 25 minutes. For reference, Oliveira and Gaethje combined for 54 strikes for their 3:22 fight.

Esparza, 34, called the fight “a bummer” but agreed with the judges, who scored the fight 47-48, 49-46, 48-47 and likely rewarded the Irvine resident for being the more active fighter.

“I felt I was putting the pressure and I was coming forward and I was holding on to the center of the Octagon,” the Torrance native and Redondo Union High grad said. “At the end of the day, I did what I could and I tried to fight my fight, but fights go like that sometimes.”

For her part, Namajunas, 29, said she stuck to her strategy and felt she won the fight because Esparza didn’t do enough to score points.

“I knew I was scoring. I knew I was touching her,” said Namajunas (11-5), now a former two-time champion said. “There were times that I was missing, but I don’t know. I felt like I was scoring.”

Esparza (20-6) made history with the championship victory, as her stretch of 2,612 days between title reigns – from when she lost the title to Joanna Jedrzejczyk on March 14, 2015, to Saturday night – is the longest in UFC history.

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Fact and figures

UFC 274 gave the promotion its 15th consecutive sellout, with an attendance of 17,232 and a Footprint Center event gate record of $6,127,962.13.

The prelims card scrap between flyweight Brandon Royval and Matt Schnell was awarded a Fight of the Night bonus. Even though it lasted just over two minutes, it was a furious pace before Royval won via guillotine choke.

Chandler, for his front-kick knockout of Ferguson, and welterweight Andre Fialho, who needed just 2:35 seconds to knock out Cameron VanCamp, won Performance of the Night bonuses.

Each bonus is worth $50,000.