LAS VEGAS — The fifth BMF title fight in UFC history wasn’t as entertaining as the first four, but it was nevertheless an impressive showing in the legendary career of Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira.
Oliveira (37-11) dominated Holloway (27-9) on the ground on Saturday en route to a shutout decision at UFC 326 inside T-Mobile Arena, with all three judges scoring the bout 50-45. The former lightweight champion took Holloway down in all five rounds and threatened to submit him numerous times, totaling 20:49 of control time.
Immediately after the bout, Oliveira shared his respect for Holloway, a former featherweight champion and the only BMF champion to ever record a title defense.
“I respect you so much. I admire you so much,” Oliveira said to Holloway in his postfight Octagon interview. “We’re different than other people. We sell fights the other way. My biggest pride is to represent my family just like you. It was amazing. These dudes come here and talk a lot of crap. We come here, we do a lot of beautiful things for our family. We fight and do great things for our kids.
“If this division has two BMFs, those BMFs are Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway.”
Before Saturday, three of the first four BMF title fights saw a finish. The most recent, a five-round decision for Holloway over Dustin Poirier last July, featured multiple knockdowns and momentum swings.
UFC 326 saw no such drama. Oliveira made his game plan known early, as he walked Holloway down and immediately put him on his back with an outside trip. The UFC’s all-time record holder for submissions, Oliveira appeared to come close to tapping Holloway with multiple rear-naked choke and face-crank attempts. Holloway showed heart and poise escaping each scenario, but he had no answer when it came to getting Oliveira off his back.
Holloway smiled and shrugged after the early rounds, but his demeanor changed as he was unable to turn the tide round after round. Oliveira landed a clean right knee at the start of the third and some very hard elbows from the mount in the fourth. The Hawaiian lightweight managed to score a takedown of his own in the fifth round, but eventually lost position and ended up on his back once again.
Holloway managed to get to his feet in the final seconds and motioned for Oliveira to meet him in the middle with his infamous finger point at the canvas. Oliveira obliged, but only for the final five seconds and even caught Holloway with a right hand in one of the final exchanges.
“It’s stick and move, but they came with a better game plan,” Holloway said. “I gotta give it up for Oliveira. Guys, helluva fighter, true BMF and wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’m gonna come back, whoop somebody’s ass and be right in title contention again. I ain’t done yet. I’m going to see Mr. Oliveira again, though. That’s for sure.”
Oliveira improves to 2-0 since suffering a first-round knockout to Ilia Topuria in their vacant title fight last June. Former two-weight champion Conor McGregor recently expressed a desire to fight for the BMF title, but at 170 pounds.
Holloway suffered his first loss since his own knockout defeat to Topuria for the featherweight title in October 2024.
In the co-main event, middleweight Caio Borralho (22-3) bounced back from his first UFC loss in September to defeat Reinier de Ridder (17-3) via unanimous decision. All three judges scored the three-round bout 30-27 for Borralho.
A member of the Fighting Nerds team in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Borralho looked loose and confident from the opening bell, mixing in jabs, left hands and leg kicks. De Ridder was a little slow to respond in the opening round, and eventually looked to grapple in the second. Borralho defended takedowns, landed the cleaner strikes and scored a key takedown of his own in the third round after de Ridder landed a knee to seal the result.
Borralho, who lost to Nassourdine Imavov last year in Paris, called for his next bout to be against former champion Dricus Du Plessis, who hasn’t fought since he lost the belt to Khamzat Chimaev last August.
