LAS VEGAS – When fight fans think of BMF, brain-bashing brawls, scintillating slugfests, and crushing knockouts usually are what come to mind as qualifiers.
However, Max Holloway sees Saturday’s submission-savvy opponent as fitting the bill despite being known for groundwork and jiu-jitsu. There’s no question, Holloway (27-8 MMA, 23-8 UFC) said, Charles Oliveira (36-11 MMA, 24-11 UFC) is as BMF as they come.
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“I think he’s a BMF,” Holloway said at Wednesday’s media day. “I think it’s fitting for sure. A lot of people are making this fight to be a striker vs. grappler. They’ve got it all wrong. This guy, even he said it. He was a jiu-jitsu guy before. Now he’s an MMA guy, and a lot of his submission wins have been coming from striking first. He’s hurting these guys on the feet, and then he’s submitting them. That’s a pretty BMF thing to do. So nothing but love for him.”
Holloway and Oliveira square off Saturday in the main event of UFC 326 at T-Mobile Arena. Holloway currently holds the promotion’s BMF title and will be putting it up for grabs against the promotion’s all-time submissions leader. So while the temptation to add another violent highlight like his last-second knockout of Justin Gaethje is strong, Holloway thinks a submission could be just as BMF-worthy.
“It is what it is,” Holloway said. “I didn’t get to show too much of my submission skills in the octagon anyway. That would be pretty BMF. That would be pretty BMF to go submit the submission artist. Charles can say whatever he wants. He can say whatever. I can say whatever I want. Come Saturday night, we get to find out. That’s the beautiful thing about it.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Max Holloway sees submission as most ‘BMF’ option at UFC 326
