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Max Holloway vs Charles Oliveira 2 Preview & Picks – Holloway To Retain BMF Crown At UFC 326

leigh-copson
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Leigh Copson 1 hour ago
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  • Max Holloway vs Charles Oliveira 2 picks for Saturday, March 7
  • UFC 326 is taking place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Preview, predictions, stats & form
Max Holloway (Getty Images)

Max Holloway vs Charles Oliveira 2 Preview & Picks

Max Holloway is tipped to retain the unofficial BMF title in this main event fight.

Charles Oliveira is undoubtedly ‘chinny’ and that spells trouble against Holloway, who combines unorthodox, high volume striking with fight-finishing power. 

  • Max Holloway is 4-1 in his previous 5 fights
  • 2 of Max Holloway’s previous 3 wins have come via knockout
  • Max Holloway is 2-0 in BMF title fights while competing at lightweight
  • Charles Oliveira has been knocked out 5 times in his career

Head To Head

  • Max Holloway won via 1st round TKO when the two men fought in August 2015

Max Holloway Form

Max Holloway is the defending BMF champion with a professional record of 27-8 (12 KOs, 2 Subs).

Holloway debuted in the UFC back in February 2012 and despite a handful of losses in the first few years, he established himself as one of the rising stars in the sport.

A nine-fight win streak propelled him to a featherweight championship shot in December 2016, and he took his opportunity with a third-round knockout of Anthony Pettis.

From there ‘Blessed’ stopped the legendary Jose Aldo in back-to-back fights and brutalised Brian Ortega over four rounds, before coming up short as he challenged for the interim lightweight crown in April 2019.

Holloway rebounded by retaining his featherweight crown with a unanimous decision win over Frankie Edgar, only to then surrender it to Alexander Volkanovski via points in December of that year.

The 34-year-old Hawaiian lost the rematch on points too, and after winning back-to-back fights to get back on track, he suffered another decision defeat to Volkanovski to settle their trilogy.

He put that behind him the following year with a unanimous decision victory against Arnold Allen, and he backed that up with a third-round knockout of ‘The Korean Zombie’ before stopping Justin Gaethje in the fifth to claim the BMF title.

Holloway returned to featherweight after that fight and was knocked out in the third round as he challenged champion Ilia Topuria, but he rebounded from that loss last year as he beat Dustin Poirier on points to retain the BMF belt.

Charles Oliveira Form

Charles Oliveira is a former UFC lightweight champion with a professional record of 36-11 (10 KOs, 22 Subs) with 1 No Contest.

He also holds the record for most finishes, most submission and most Performance of the Night awards in the UFC.

The 36-year-old Brazilian debuted in the promotion back in 2010 and experienced mixed fortunes over the next few years as he became a top talent in the lighter weights without forcing his way into the title picture.

That all changed in June 2018 though, as a first-round submission of Clay Guida sparked an eight-fight win streak that catapulted him to a title fight in May 2021.

Oliveira completed his rise to the top of the lightweight division too, as he knocked out Michael Chandler in the second round to claim the vacant crown.

‘Do Bronx’ successfully defended the championship with a couple of submission successes against Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, before being tapped out himself by Islam Makhachev in October 2022.

Since then he has been on a mixed run, with a first-round stoppage of Beneil Dariush being followed by a split decision defeat to Arman Tsarukyan.

Oliveira bounced back to beat Michael Chandler on points, before responding to his knockout loss to lightweight champion Ilia Topuria with a second-round submission win against Mateusz Gamrot.

Verdict

These two fights have very different routes to victory – one needs this to stay standing and one needs this to get to the mat.

Every fight starts on the feet though and Oliveira has shown that he can be finished quickly, so we are backing Holloway to land the shot that retains his BMF crown.

Best Bet1: Max Holloway Winner @-172.41 at Stake.us - 6 Units
Max Holloway
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