BMF champ Max Holloway will rematch Charles Oliveira in the UFC 326 main event on Sat. night (March 7, 2026) on Paramount+ from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Holloway previously defeated Oliveira by technical stretcher job at UFC Fight Night 74 back in summer 2015.
A lot has changed over the last decade.
Both combatants would go on to win championship titles and combine for 46 finishes spread between knockouts and submissions while bagging 34 post-fight performance bonuses, including 11 “Fight of the Night” honors. But Holloway has emerged as the clear betting favorite for this weekend’s do-over.
Sounds like Alex Volkanovski, no stranger to “Blessed” battles, is backing the Hawaiian.
“Max Holloway, you go 100 percent,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel (transcribed by Farah Hannoun). “Now he is going to get you tired, and he’s one guy who knows how to capitalize on someone being tired. If he sees you tired, he’s going to make you pay more and more and more, and he can definitely mentally and physically break you down. Does that give him opportunities to get the finish? I’m going to say yes. I think you’ll get some better value at him getting the finish. I think he can get the finish. I think the later rounds he gets the finish. I can definitely see a finish in the third or fourth round even.”
Oliveira (36-11, 1 NC) has been finished in nine of his 11 losses.
“I think Max Holloway can definitely start to land, get in position where Charles is more shelling up, trying to grab, not really working, and you see Max starting to get the finish, and the ref’s just sort of stopping it,” Volkanovski added. “Max is the type of guy that can put that type of pace on you. Charles is going to be dangerous enough to put him in danger, but only thing is, you can’t do that for five rounds with someone like Max. It’s either Charles lands and gets a finish early, or he gets finished in the later rounds. I’m leaning more towards a finish than a decision for Max.”
Holloway (27-8) has 14 finishes in 27 of his wins.
“After this fight, if [Holloway] wins, how is he not fighting for the title? I believe he should have already fought for the title,” Volkanovski said. “Obviously he lost, but that was at featherweight against the champ (Topuria). Then there’s an interim, you think he would have been a no-brainer if the guy in the interim was Gaethje, even though he beat Gaethje. I think that should have been Max to be honest. I think he fights for a belt. I think that’s clear.”
This angry contender may have something to say about that.
