LAS VEGAS — 36-year-old Charles Oliveira turned again the clock and shocked the world at UFC 326 on Saturday, placing on a dominant efficiency in opposition to closely favored Max Holloway to win the BMF belt by unanimous resolution, 50-45, at T-Cell Enviornment.
Oliveira shocked Holloway within the early levels of the primary spherical of their light-weight bout and managed the combat from that time ahead, logging a outstanding 20:49 of management time whereas succeeding on 5-of-13 takedown makes an attempt. Oliveira’s insistence at holding the combat on the bottom drew some boos from followers who have been hoping for a typical BMF-style brawl, however the Brazilian jiu-jitsu artist additionally landed his strikes at a better proportion and quantity than Holloway along with his elite floor efficiency.
The win was a full circle second for Oliveira, who misplaced to Holloway in 2015 after struggling a shoulder and esophagus harm on a first-round takedown try rendered him unable to compete. Oliveira is now the fourth BMF champion in UFC historical past, becoming a member of Holloway, Justin Gaethje and Jorge Masvidal.
The co-main occasion noticed “Preventing Nerds” founder Caio Borralho defeat Reiner De Ridder in a unanimous 30-27 resolution, though the combat was definitely extra aggressive than the ultimate scorecards indicated. Regardless, Borralho rebounded from his disappointing loss to Nassourdine Imavov in September and now has his sights set on former middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis, whom Borralho known as out in his post-fight interview.
The second bout of the primary card between Drew Dober and Michael Johnson drew some undesirable consideration on betting markets within the hours main as much as the combat, after a sequence of posts on social media led to a drastic line shift that noticed Johnson transfer from a -155 favourite final week to a +150 favourite within the hours main as much as the combat. Johnson, whose final scheduled combat in opposition to Alexander Hernandez at UFC 324 was pulled resulting from betting irregularities, was knocked out with a thundering left hook from Dober at 1:53 within the second spherical.
Preventing for the primary time on the primary card of a numbered UFC occasion, rising 21-year-old Raul Rosas Jr. earned his fifth straight win and third straight unanimous resolution with a medical wrestling efficiency in opposition to Thirteenth-ranked bantamweight Rob Font. Rosas Jr. registered over 10 minutes of management time and landed 16-of-18 takedown makes an attempt, placing collectively probably the most dominant efficiency of his younger profession so far.
The principle card began off with a bang because of Gregory “Robocop” Rodrigues, who avenged his first-round knockout loss to Brunno Ferreira at UFC 283 with a first-round knockout of his personal on simply his second strike try, 1:47 into Saturday’s combat. Since that preliminary loss to Ferreira in 2023, Rodrigues has received six of his final seven fights, together with 4 by KO/TKO.
–Will Despart, Subject Stage Media
