The Ultimate Fighting Championship has a new “Baddest Mother F––-” (BMF) title holder after Charles Oliveira dethroned Max Holloway in the lightweight main event of UFC 326, held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on the morning of Sunday 8 March.
Oliveira, who moved to 37-11 (1 NC) with the victory, dominated Holloway both in the stand-up and on the ground, taking the champion down multiple times throughout the match and firmly establishing his dominance – reflected by a trio of 50-45 score cards from the judges.
“Max is the toughest guy I’ve ever fought,” Oliveira said afterwards in the octagon. “It couldn’t be any other way. I had to come here and dominate.”
Holloway dropped to 27-9 and relinquished the belt he won off Justin Gaethje and defended once against Dustin Poirier.
“[My gameplan] was stick and move but they came with a better gameplan,” Holloway said after the fight. “You’ve got to give it up to Oliveira — a hell of a fighter, a true BMF.”
The rest of the main card saw Caio Borralho and Raul Rosas Jr. claim respective unanimous decision wins over Reinier de Ridder (middleweight) and Rob Font (bantamweight), while Drew Dober and Gregory Rodrigues claimed respective knockout wins over Michael Johnson (lightweight) and Brunno Ferreira (middleweight).
The UFC continues next weekend with a Fight Night from the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, headlined by a featherweight match between Josh Emmett and Kevin Vallejos.
UFC 326 – Main card results
- Main event: “BMF” Championship, lightweight: Charles Oliveira def. Max Holloway via unanimous decision
- Middleweight: Caio Borralho def. Reinier de Ridder via unanimous decision
- Bantamweight: Raul Rosas Jr. def. Rob Font via unanimous decision
- Lightweight: Drew Dober def. Michael Johnson via KO
- Middleweight: Gregory Rodrigues def. Brunno Ferreira via KO