Time to rewind.
Before former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight champion Max Holloway and former Lightweight champion Charles Oliveira collide at UFC 326 this weekend (Sat., March 7, 2026) for the “BMF” title inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, let’s take a little stroll down memory lane.
The date was Aug. 23, 2015, inside the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada — a location the UFC has not returned to since. In the UFC Saskatoon main event, a 23-year-old Holloway and a 25-year-old Oliveira clashed in their very first headlining spot.
Holloway was already six fights into what would become his legendary 13-fight winning streak, while Oliveira was riding a four-fight winning streak of his own. At the time, “Do Bronx” was still competing at Featherweight and had been somewhat up-and-down during his early UFC run — a trend that would continue for another three years before his eventual Lightweight surge.
Nevertheless, their first fight only lasted one minute and 39 seconds. In that short span, however, the two young contenders were already throwing heat and setting the stage for what could have been a thrilling fight. Unfortunately, it never materialized.
Oliveira shot for a takedown, and Holloway stuffed it. When Oliveira stood back up, he suddenly grabbed his throat, and the fight was called off.
In the immediate aftermath, it was reported that Oliveira suffered an esophagus micro-tear. He later confirmed he had a pre-existing neck injury. However, to this day, no one truly knows exactly what happened in that strange sequence.
Check out the fight below:
Here is the rest of the card if you were curious:
