Oliveira not sorry about post fight taunt

Fans booed loudly when Alex Oliveira made an obscene gesture at opponent Will Brooks after defeating him via TKO in Round 3. Brooks then lunged at the Brazilian, was held back by referee Herb Dean, and then collapsed holding his ribs, which had apparently been hurt since the first round.

I think that he deserved even more, said Oliveira to MMAjunkie backstage, via translator and manager Alex Davis.

The enmity stemmed from the aftermath of the weigh ins, where Oliveira missed weight by 5.5 pounds.

I’ve never not made weight in my life, and I’ve also never had this happen to me in my life, said Oliveira after missing weight. I’d like to apologize to my fans and him and his team. I was choking on it, and it happened, but I really feel sorry.

That highly unprofessional failure forced former Bellator champion Brooks to take a catchweight at 161.5, and he refused to accept Oliveira’s apology. Brooks tweeted his feelings from the sauna, and the two engaged in a heated staredown later in the day.

Be a professional, make weight, said Brooks. This is my problem with guys now. I get that it’s entertainment, but this is also a profession. This is serious business. I sacrificed a lot to get here. But I’m still in the sauna and he’s five and a half pounds over. I’m like .8 over right now, but I want to make sure that I’m on point. That upsets me. That angers me. That pisses me off.

Brooks could have cancelled the fight, but took it, and lost.

Oliveira located the weight problem in the air. He said he put on a lot of weight while flying from Brazil and couldn’t take it off. The fighter said he was returning to welterweight, but later said he would instead talk over the next step with his team.