Holloway and Oliveira have more at stake than the BMF title at UFC 326

From a purely “should be fun” standpoint, nothing beats the UFC 326 main event matchup for fight fans.

You’d be hard-pressed to find two fighters on the entire UFC roster more beloved, respected, and entertaining than former champions Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira.

The pair have a combined 47 UFC wins, 34 performance awards, multiple world titles, and have consistently faced world-class competition for over a decade, giving mixed martial arts fans iconic moments.

Holloway and Oliveira were previously 23 and 25-year-olds, respectively, at a Fight Night event in Saskatoon in 2015, and although the featherweight talent was on the rise, that bout ended prematurely and unceremoniously when Oliveira suffered a fluke esophageal injury just minutes into the contest.

Instead of a rematch being booked, they went their separate ways. Holloway continued to move up the 145-pound rankings, losing two straight bouts by submission before Oliveira missed weight in two of his next three appearances and decided to move up to the 155-pound weight class.

After falling to 1-1 in 2017 with a win over Will Brooks and a loss to Paul Felder, Oliveira went on a career-defining run, reeling off 11 straight wins to become lightweight champion from 2018 to 2022.

Oliveira’s major wins followed back-to-back stoppages of Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje until his title run ended, and Islam Makhachev’s run began roughly 3.5 years ago, and he has been alternating between wins and losses ever since.

On the other hand, Holloway defeated Oliveira and extended his winning streak to 7 consecutive wins. He also won his next six fights, including KO/TKO wins in title fights over Anthony Pettis, Jose Aldo (twice), and Brian Ortega.

Holloway’s days as the sport’s premier featherweight came to an end when his rivalry with Alexander Volkanovski began. From 2019 to 2023, Holloway went 5-3 at 145 pounds, with all three of his losses being five-round decisions to Volkanovski.

Being stuck in the featherweight no-man’s land, so to speak, allowed Holloway to test the waters at lightweight, and his performance against Gaethje at UFC 300 in April 2024 was arguably the best performance of Holloway’s career. It ended with the BMF title being won in one of the most dramatic finishes in UFC history.

Holloway attempted to regain the featherweight belt that Ilia Topuria won over Volkanovski in early 2024, but was knocked out for the first time in his career by Topuria at UFC 308 and decided to return to lightweight permanently.

Oliveira also encountered the fearsome Topuria and came out defeated. Topuria gave up the featherweight title after defeating Holloway and won the vacant lightweight title last summer by defeating Oliveira in half a round at UFC 317.

The 36-year-old Brazilian bounced back with a submission win over Mateusz Gamrot in October, appeared fully recovered from his brutal KO against Topuria and was more dangerous than ever in grappling scenarios.

When we last saw Holloway, the 34-year-old Hawaiian was defending his BMF title while also avenging two losses to Poirier at UFC 318 last July.

The BMF title, which symbolizes who the UFC’s “Baddest Mother” (expletive) is, will be decided this weekend at T-Mobile Arena, but it’s the UFC’s lightweight title picture that’s piqued Holloway’s interest in particular.

“I’ve always said I’m going to stay in the UFC as long as I’m in title contention or have a title,” Holloway told Sportsnet’s Diana Velveeta in an interview this week in Las Vegas. “Once I get to the point where I’m fighting just to fight, I don’t want to do it. Now my name is always in title contention and that’s what keeps me going.”

Both men are comfortable with rematches. Oliveira is a perfect 4-0 in his UFC rematch, coming off two wins over Nik Lentz in the trilogy and wins over Jim Miller and Michael Chandler in the follow-up. Holloway went just 2-3 with two losses to Volkanovski in the rematch, a win over Jose Aldo, and a loss to Poirier in the trilogy.

The winner on Saturday will not only take home the BMF belt, but could also potentially be next in line for the lightweight title.

Gaethje will likely return in mid-2026 after recently winning the interim title at UFC 324 after Topuria announced a personal leave late last year. In theory, the next lightweight championship bout would be a title unification between Topuria and Gaethje.

“I’m not rooting for anyone. I hope the best person wins. But if I had the choice, I’d love to fight Ilia again,” Holloway explained. “He’s the first person to do what he did to me. I need to get that back because no one else can. Me and Gaethje have history and I know Gaethje wants to get that back, so that’ll be a fun fight too, but we’ll see if the best guy can win.

“I want a clear title. A lot of people are calling me for this BMF title. … At the end of the day, I want a clear title. I want to be the No. 1 contender in this division. … If I can go out on Saturday night and play 300 minutes against Charles Oliveira, the ball will be in our court.”

UFC Records: Holloway is a phenomenal high-volume striker, landing 7.20 significant strikes per minute and boasting one of the best takedown defenses in the sport. He holds the UFC record for most strikes total, having landed more than 1,100 strikes than the next closest player on that list.

Oliveira leads UFC history with 17 submission wins. He also has four KO/TKO wins and a record 21 total stoppage wins. Oliveira is tied for second all-time in UFC history with 24 wins. Holloway has a 23-8 record in the UFC and could tie Oliveira and Neil Magny for second place in wins if he is named the heavy favorite.

Holloway has recorded 8 hours, 27 minutes and 43 seconds of total fight time during his UFC career and has a chance to surpass former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, who holds the record for total fight time in UFC history with 8 hours, 43 minutes and 19 seconds. As the UFC 326 main event reaches the halfway point of four rounds, Holloway will add another UFC record to his list of accomplishments.

Betting Odds: Holloway started as a -150 favorite but grew to a 2-1 favorite by the start of race week.

Oliveira has a 3-3 record since losing the title. He was the betting favorite for wins over Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler and Mateusz Gamrot, and lost to Islam Makhachev, Arman Tsarukyan and Ilia Topuria when listed as the underdog.

Holloway has 4 wins and 1 loss in his last 5 games. He was the favorite in three of them and won all three, but split the previous two fights where he was the underdog. He beat Gaethje as an underdog, but failed to do the same when he faced Topuria six months later. He was the favorite to retire Poirier about eight months ago.

Expected UFC 326 fight order (subject to change):

— Max Holloway vs. Charles Oliveira

— Caio Borralho vs. Reinier de Ridder

— Rob Font vs. Raul Rosas Jr.

— Drew Dover vs. Michael Johnson

— Gregory Rodriguez vs. Bruno Pereira

— Cody Garbrandt vs. Xiao Long

— Donte Johnson vs. Cody Brundage

— Ricky Tersios vs. Alberto Montes

— Cody Durden vs. Nyamjargal Tumendemberel

— Sumudaerji vs. Jesus Santos Aguilar

— Rafael Tobias vs. Diyar Nurgozai

— Lee Jeong-young vs. Gaston Bolanos

— Luke Fernandez vs. Rodolfo Bellato