UFC 326: Holloway vs Oliveira 2 - Mar 7 🇺🇸

[wandshogun09]

After a decade plus, it’s nearly time…

PARAMOUNT+ MAIN CARD
Max Holloway©️vs Charles Oliveira - BMF Title

Caio Borralho vs Reinier De Ridder 

Rob Font vs Raul Rosas Jr

Drew Dober vs Michael Johnson 

Gregory Rodrigues vs Brunno Ferreira 

PARAMOUNT+ PRELIMS 
Cody Garbrandt vs Xiao Long

Donte Johnson vs Cody Brundage

Alberto Montes vs Ricky Turcios

Cody Durden vs Nyamjargal Tumendemberel 

Su Mudaerji vs Jesus Aguilar 

Rafael Tobias vs Diyar Nurgozhay  

Luke Fernandez vs Rodolfo Bellato 

 

Yep. The rematch I’ve been banging on about forever is almost here! Buzzing for this. The card isn’t quite complete yet but the main event is obviously doing most of the heavy lifting. No idea what the co-main is gonna be or why they’ve left it so late. That’s the UFC in 2026 for you! Was thinking a Joshua Van title defence against Kape or Taira but the clock is ticking on getting that done. And I’m not sure whether Renato Moicano is gonna stay on the card or not now the Brian Ortega rematch is off. There was talk of Esteban Ribovics stepping in but Moicano’s gone quiet. Whatever. I’ll update this post as the card takes shape and reaches its final form.

 

 

Max Holloway vs Charles Oliveira 2 is on! Fucking FINALLY! And sod it, this is absolutely ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** on this bad boy. I don’t think I’ve ever had a main event as my one to watch but I don’t care. A rematch over a decade in the making and now it’s finally almost upon us. Anyone who’s even stumbled across my posts on here over the last few years is probably sick of me waffling on about wanting to see this fight. Well I can finally shut up about it soon. We’re just weeks away now. Needless to say, I can’t wait. They’ve been two of the most consistently exciting fighters to watch in the sport for years now and also two of the most popular and beloved fighters in the game. It’s babyface vs babyface all the way this one. I’m sure if you do enough digging you can find some sad sack of misery who’s finding ways to hate these two but they’re both probably about as close as it’s possible to get in MMA to being universally loved. The sport will be a much poorer place when these two are gone, so I’m just thankful that we’re getting to see them throw down before that day comes.

They crossed paths way back in August 2015, as the main event of a Fight Night card in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada of all places. I’m sure many on this board will only know of that place because it was the site of Bret Hart winning his first WWF title back in 1992. Throwing a Hawaiian against a Brazilian out there in Saskatoon was proper random but they were doing Fight Night shows all over the place at that time. Better days before the Apex came along. Anyway, I remember being hyped for the fight going in. Even back then, they weren’t in any title mix yet but they’d both already established themselves as entertaining young fighters on the rise who were always worth tuning in for. Sadly the fight ended in anti-climax…

At just 1:39 of the first round, the fight was over due to an apparent injury to Oliveira. I was gutted back then. If you’d told me at that point that we’d have to wait another 10-11 years to see them rematch I’d have been distraught! But they went on different paths after that. Holloway went from strength to strength and went on a winning streak that ultimately led to him becoming Featherweight champion in 2017. But Oliveira had a shaky few years of inconsistency, weight misses, some bad losses and gained a reputation, rightly or wrongly, for being a ‘quitter’. I hate that talk and it seems mad now that Charles was labelled that way, knowing what he went on to do. But that was the knock on him back then. That he’d crumble and ‘look for a way out’ if things got too rough in there. That loss to Holloway was actually used by people for years as part of that ‘quitter’ narrative against Oliveira. It was kind of a strange ending to the fight and there were conflicting reports at the time about what exactly the injury was. Some were saying it was a neck or shoulder injury, others were reporting it as a ‘micro-tear in his oesophagus’. Charles himself later said it was a minor neck injury stemming from previously hurting it in camp. It’s came up again recently though when rumblings of this rematch started popping up last year. And Max apparently isn’t buying it…

“I heard Oliveira was yapping, saying that he had an injury when we fought. Last time I checked, when they did a follow up and they wanted to find out what the injury was, there was no injury report on it. They said he was fine so I have no idea what the hell he’s talking about.” - Max Holloway

This took me by surprise a bit, to be honest. Like I said, I wanted to see the rematch from the second the first fight ended but with two of the nicest and classiest guys in the sport, the last thing I expected was any kind of beef or shit talking from either side. I don’t think there’s any real bad blood there, but even Max just talking like that feels out of character. He never really trash talks anyone and he’s not the type who creates fake animosity just to build a fight. If he’s saying this stuff, it’s because he believes it’s true. On the other side, while Oliveira did have a few weird performances and losses back then, I don’t buy for a second that he was faking the injury either. Fuck knows? Something of nothing really but it definitely felt like there was unfinished business after the fight ended. It’s taken so long I’d almost given up on the idea of us ever seeing a rematch but here we are.

Holloway’s had a hell of a career since that night in Saskatoon. He followed that fight with wins over Jeremy Stephens, Ricardo Lamas and Anthony Pettis before finally getting his opportunity at UFC gold and dethroning the great Jose Aldo in back-to-back fights, both by stoppage. By 2017 he’d fully arrived. Unfortunately for him, Alexander Volkanovski had came along at the same time and he turned out to be Holloway’s kryptonite. Max went 0-3 against Volk between 2019-22. And it wasn’t like Max was on the decline. He had stellar performances over the likes of Brian Ortega, Frankie Edgar, Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez in between those Volk losses. Volk is just that good. If not for him, Max likely would’ve dominated 145 for a good few years. In more recent years, Holloway’s been mostly out of the title picture but he’s still been delivering big time in the cage. The win over Arnold Allen in 2023 doesn’t jump off the page now when you look at his record but at the time I remember there was a sense that Max might be slowing down and a lot of people fancied Allen to win. Max wasn’t having it. Then he sent the Korean Zombie into a retirement with a rare one punch KO in Singapore. Then came UFC 300…

It’s gonna get brought up until the end of time whenever MMA fans talk about Max Holloway but that BMF title win over Justin Gaethje was absolutely bonkers. Insane. Maybe THE greatest knockout in UFC history right there. At 4:59 of the last round, he scored the most ridiculous faceplant KO ever against a fellow nutcase warrior in Gaethje. It was already a great performance from Holloway and he was well on his way to a clear decision win anyway. He didn’t have to put himself at risk by going all out for the KO but he did and that was the result. A legitimately legendary moment in MMA history. And in a funny way it actually kind of gave the silly BMF belt some credibility. It’s a gimmick belt but it felt like Max somehow elevated it to mean something a bit more that night. The fact that it was up at Lightweight and about 85% of the media and fans were talking before the fight as if he was a lamb to the slaughter and out of his depth at 155 made it even more of a badass move.

Realistically, they should’ve just retired that BMF belt there and then. Just let Max keep the thing. Nobody’s ever topping that Gaethje KO are they? It peaked and it’s all downhill from there.

Of course, Max went back down to Featherweight after that win for a crack at the proper belt. Trying to regain what Volk had taken away from him in their one-sided trilogy. This time it wouldn’t be against Volk though. Ilia Topuria was the new King Of 145. I’m a little bit hazy now but I actually remember Max doing alright early on against Topuria. We know how it ended though. Topuria chinned him in the second round and that was that. I was happy to hear Max confirm after that loss that he’d be moving up to 155 permanently. At 34 years old, why keep cutting that weight? And he’d already reached the pinnacle at 145 years ago. There wasn’t a lot left for him there. It felt like the right time to sack that off and make a fresh start up a division. In July, he was back at Lightweight and successfully defended his BMF belt (I believe he’s the first to do that) against a retiring Dustin Poirier in another fun fight. And being 0-2 down against Poirier going in, it must’ve been sweet for him to finally get a win back against him.

Oliveira had more difficult times after that injury against Holloway in 2015. He didn’t actually turn his career around for another couple of years. It’s mad to think back to that time and newer fans probably don’t even realise it but Charles was really struggling for a while there. After the anti-climax against Max, he bounced back with a submission win over Myles Jury but missed weight in the process. Then he got submitted by Pettis and Lamas in back-to-back fights (and missed weight again in the Lamas fight). After the weight misses, he finally moved up to Lightweight in 2017 and subbed Will Brooks. But then he got battered to a TKO loss by Paul Felder at the end of that year. You’d have been forgiven around this time for thinking Oliveira was never gonna amount to anything. He clearly had skills, but there always seemed to be something with him. Felt like he’d never put it all together. Then 2018 arrived and, whether it was a New Year’s resolution or what, something seemed to click for Charles and he went on a tear. Over the next two years he rattled off seven straight wins, all finishes. Included in that streak were wins over Clay Guida, Jim Miller (avenging his previous loss to Miller in 2010), Jared Gordon and Kevin Lee. At the end of 2020 he got his break against a top name and beat Tony Ferguson on points. Then a bit of good luck fell in his lap when Khabib retired and vacated the belt. Oliveira was matched up with Michael Chandler in May 2021 and knocked him out to win the vacant title.

Amazing. You’d never have called it back in 2017. He genuinely seemed like he might be one bad loss or one more weight miss away from the UFC cutting ties with him at points. I think a lot of newer fans love him anyway just because he’s fun to watch. But they got into it when he was already on top and had overcame his issues. They probably don’t even fully realise why the ‘old heads’ love him so much. There’s something about fighters like Oliveira, who go through serious slumps in their career and might even look like a lost cause at times. When they turn things around and come out the other side of that, and have the unlikely rise to the top, there’s nothing quite like it. There’s been a few examples over the years. Robbie Lawler coming from being written off in the dying days of Strikeforce and being given another chance in the UFC, almost out of courtesy, to then go on his career best run and win the title is another. But yeah, seeing Charles with that UFC belt was magic. There aren’t many UFC wins/moments that made me happier.

From there he had a short but wildly entertaining title reign with wins over Poirier and Gaethje, before getting chewed up by the Makhachev machine in late 2022. Kind of a parallel to Max at 145 in a way. Like I said, Max probably would’ve had a long run as Featherweight champ if Volkanovski wasn’t around. It might’ve been a similar thing at Lightweight with Charles but, unfortunately for him, he became champ just in time for Islam Makhachev to arrive as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. It’s been a mixed bag for Oliveira since. He’s gone W, L, W, L, W since the Makhachev loss. Wrecked Beneil Dariush, lost a split decision against Arman Tsarukyan, beat Chandler in their rematch but somehow went five rounds, got ironed out by Topuria, then in his last fight he submitted Mateusz Gamrot in front of a rabid home crowd in Rio, Brazil.

Crazy scenes. And actually was probably his best performance in years. He was originally supposed to face Rafael Fiziev that night but Fiziev dropped out. When it got switched to Gamrot, with Charles going from preparing for a striker to a wrestler, I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad news for Charles. It felt like it had real banana skin potential to me but Charles ended up schooling him and submitting him in the second round. In hindsight, coming off a bad KO loss against Topuria, facing a grappler in Gamrot was probably exactly what Charles needed.

It was great to see him back in the win column and, for me, even better than that was it cleared the way to possibly, maybe, finally, getting that Holloway rematch on. The talk had already started increasing a bit after Holloway beat Poirier in the summer. But Holloway injured his hand in that fight and that shelved him for the rest of 2025. After Oliveira beat Gamrot though, there didn’t seem to be any more obstacles in the way. Max was saying he’d be cleared to fight in early 2026, fans and media were talking about it more and more, the buzz around the rematch potentially happening was starting to pick up steam. For a brief moment, there was a fair bit of talk that Max and Charles should rematch on the White House card. Oliveira was even pushing for that after the Gamrot win. I hated that idea. For one, I don’t want this fight bogged down with all the political bollocks and the image of Trump’s orange face looming cageside. But also, that card isn’t until fucking June. Who wants to wait all that time? Not me. I’ve already been waiting since 2015, FFS! Max didn’t like the idea either and thankfully that talk fizzled out.

Then in early December, the UFC finally put me out of my misery. It was announced. Confirmed. Signed. Officially official.

And, well…I’m erect. 

It’s actually mind boggling that it’s taken this long for these two to circle back around and come face to face again, isn’t it? But I guess they were in different weight classes for a lot of the last decade. Oliveira moved up to Lightweight a couple of years after their first fight and Holloway was in the the thick of establishing Featherweight greatness by then. Better late than never. And to be honest, it’s probably a better fight now they’re both in that legend bracket anyway. It’s certainly a bigger fight now.

“We have history. There’s not too many people right now that others are considering BMFs, and on that very short list, Charles Oliveira is one of them. My coaches are probably going to kill me when they see this and hear me saying - a BMF thing to do in this fight would be to submit the submission artist. Never say never. If your boy throws up some submissions here and there and I get one, who’s to say what happens? That’s a pretty BMF moment to go submit a submission artist.”

“The goal never changes. From my first fight to now, I want that undisputed belt. That’s all I want. I had it for a while at Featherweight, now we’re at Lightweight and I feel good, I feel strong, fast. I have a bunch of fun fights lined up in front of me too. All I gotta do is go out there and get my hand raised.” - Max Holloway

What do we make of that? Is Max bluffing about trying to sub Oliveira? Or is he crazy enough to go for it? I’m kind of leaning towards the latter. It’s not like he’s not capable of pulling off subs but it’s not exactly his bread and butter. I don’t see him catching Charles but who the fuck knows with Max? I wouldn’t have predicted he’d one-punch Gaethje with a buzzer beater KO either. I wouldn’t dismiss the possibility but it’s not likely is it? And on the flip side, Charles is saying similar stuff, hinting that he’s gonna accept Holloway’s challenge if he does the old ‘point down, throw down’ bit Gaethje fell victim to…

“If it’s time to trade, I’ll trade. If it’s time to take it to the ground, I’ll do that. The fight starts standing and I trust my Boxing and my Muay Thai. If he calls me forward, I’ll stand right in front of him. Let’s see who has more firepower. I’m ready.”

“Both of us have evolved a lot. Holloway is the BMF champion and, not long ago, he was champion in the division below. He’s grown massively and deserves to be among the best in the world. Right now, my full focus is on the Lightweight belt. If I win the BMF title, I’d defend it, but my main goal is the division’s main title.” - Charles Oliveira

Both seem to be in the same frame of mind going into this fight. And clearly, even they see the BMF thing is nothing more than a trinket. They’re both already eyeing the proper belt. But the other stuff, Max talking about subbing Charles, Charles talking about standing in front of Max, I get that they could be just saying stuff to give each other something to think about. But I don’t know. This really feels like a fight where anything could happen. Everything is on the table here. Would it really shock anyone if Max actually tried to guillotine choke Charles? It definitely won’t shock me if Charles decides to just stand and trade and test chins with Max.

How does this one go then? I can’t even picture this in my head. Maybe by fight week I’ll have a better read on it and a feeling on who will win. But right now, I don’t have a bastard clue what’s gonna happen. They’re both great offensively, both have some vulnerabilities defensively but they’ve both got that little bit of craziness about them where I can’t rule anything out. And it’s not even like we can look back at the first fight for insight on how the rematch might go because 1) it was donkeys years ago and both are different fighters in 2026, 2) it’s a different weight class and 3) the fight was so short and ended in such a way that there’s not much you could’ve got a read on from the first fight, even if they had immediately rematched back then. Part of me thinks that Oliveira being the naturally bigger guy and more settled in at 155 might give him the edge. I think he’s probably got the heavier hands as well. But then I think Max is the better actual boxer and he’s looked refreshed since moving up in weight. He’s never been known as a massive puncher (Gaethje KO aside) but I think there’s some evidence there that he’s got a bit more pop in his punches up at 155. The Gaethje knockout obviously showed that but he was also hurting Poirier last time out in a way that he was never able to do in their first two fights. I also feel like Charles might be slightly further along the road to decline than Max is. But then Charles has the edge in submissions as well. I don’t know. I just don’t know. I can’t fucking wait though. Finally!

 

Caio Borralho vs Reinier De Ridder is a solid Middleweight fight. Important one for both. It’s not like it’s a strict ‘must win’, the loser isn’t gonna be on the chopping block or anything. But it’s one of those fights where you’ve got two guys who were getting very close to title contention, lost a crucial fight and are now having to rebuild. Borralho’s ranked #7, De Ridder’s ranked #8. So they’re still in the race. But this fight is one neither can afford to lose. One guy’s gonna get back on track, the other is gonna fall further behind.

Brazil’s Borralho just turned 33 years old and has a record of 17-2-0-1 with 9 finishes. A member of the Fighting Nerds team. He was on quite a winning streak until his last fight. He lost his second pro fight all the way back in 2015, then went on a 17 fight unbeaten run including notable UFC wins over Paul Craig and Jared Cannonier in 2024. He lost a decision to Nassourdine Imavov last time out though, in their Paris main event in September. Not really sure what to make of him. I remember him looking good in the Cannonier fight. That was the first time I felt like he might actually live up to his potential. But then he had a year long layoff and Imavov outpointed him quite clearly. I’m not sure how much of that was down to the time on the shelf and how much was just Imavov being better. Borralho’s not bad but, at 33, he’s probably not getting any better than he is now so he might’ve already maxed out his potential. As for De Ridder…

He had some real buzz around him when he signed with the UFC in late 2024, two-division champ in ONE FC etc. He made his Octagon debut in November 2024 and had already gone 4-0 in the UFC by July. Four wins in nine months! And that run consisted of wins over Gerald Meerschaert, Kevin Holland, Bo Nickal and Robert Whittaker. He subbed the first two and stopped Bo with a nasty knee to the body. Not to mention that was Bo’s first loss. De Ridder shut down Bo’s hype spectacularly. And of course, the decision win over Whittaker. A win over Whittaker in any fashion is big. By the summer, De Ridder found himself ranked #4 and the feeling was he was probably one win away from challenging for the title. He was signed to fight Anthony Hernandez as the headliner of the Vancouver card in October and I think everyone felt like the winner of that would be next in line for a title shot against the winner of the upcoming DDP vs Khamzat title fight in August.

Nope. Everything went tits up. Hernandez pulled out of the fight and Brendan Allen was put in as the replacement. On paper, an easier opponent than Hernandez but a late switch all the same. It all went wrong for De Ridder though. He started well but faded rapidly, Allen took over and De Ridder just seemed to be drowning more and more as the fight went on. It ended up being stopped between the fourth and fifth rounds, with De Ridder unable to come out for the last round. Or ‘quitting on the stool’ as many called it. I felt like a lot of the criticism was harsh but it was a really flat and disappointing way for the fight, and De Ridder’s win streak, to come to an end. He did actually have a fight in ONE against Anatoly Malykhin which ended in similar fashion, so the ‘quitter’ stigma is probably gonna follow him now. But I can’t help thinking a lot of this particular loss was due to burnout. Fighting five times in less than a year is ridiculous. Not just the fights but the endless training camps and consecutive weight cuts can’t be good for you. There’s a limit to what the body can take. And that goes for everyone. Fuck, even cardio machine Merab probably regrets squeezing that Petr Yan fight in last year when he’d already defended his title three times in 2025. Against low level opposition you can get away with fighting a bunch of times in a year. At the top level though, it’s not a good idea. Burnout is real. There’s no other logical explanation to me why De Ridder would’ve just fallen apart so quickly against a so-so, middle of the pack 185er like Allen. He’d just beat Whittaker and had to gut through some bad moments in that fight, yet he couldn’t deal with adversity against Allen? There has to be more to that and I think that insane schedule and all the back-to-back training camps and fights probably were a big factor. I’d like to see him beat Borralho here but I’m not confident either way on this one.

 

Rob Font vs Raul Rosas Jr could be fun. These two were actually supposed to fight on the Noche card in September but an injury took Rosas out. Font ended up facing David Martinez that night and lost on points. Font’s got to be on his last legs at this point. He’s 38 years old now, which is pretty much a senior citizen as a fighter but especially in the lighter weight classs. A Bantamweight who’s pushing 40 is basically an OAP in fighter terms. In fairness to Font though, he beat Kyler Phillips and Jean Matsumoto before that Martinez loss. So there’s fight in the old dog still. Those wins proved he can still give some of the young guys a run for their money. Rosas is the opposite end of the spectrum as far as age goes. He’s still only 21 years old, despite being on the roster since 2022. He’s 11-1 with the only loss coming by decision against Christian Rodriguez in 2023. He’s won four fights since then but will have been inactive for just shy of a year by the time he steps into the Octagon here. Kind of an interesting old guard vs new breed battle. And despite me talking like Font’s a relic, I could be wrong but I feel like this might be a step up that young Raul isn’t ready for. We’ll see but I think Font’s still got enough about him to derail these youngsters unless they’re actually a legitimately solid prospect. And I’m not sure Rosas is just yet. Should be an enjoyable fight regardless.

 

Drew Dober vs Michael Johnson has been added to the card just a couple of weeks before show time. It’s a fun fight on paper but I’m not sure how much actual prep time these guys have had so we might not be getting the best out of this one. It’s happening more and more now though so I guess we just have to get used to fights just being thrown together at the last minute. Should be entertaining enough though. Both are veterans at this point and both have fan friendly styles. Dober’s 37 years old now, 28-15-0-1 with 21 finishes and he’s coming off a late TKO stoppage win over Kyle Prepolec on the Vancouver card in October. Not without controversy though, the finish came right after a bad kick to the balls that Prepolec clearly never recovered from. But it was a much needed win for Dober, snapping a three fight losing streak. Johnson was supposed to fight Alexander Hernandez at UFC 324 in January but the fight got pulled the day of the show due to ‘suspicious betting line movement’. Don’t know what happened but I’d say the fact Johnson is booked again so soon indicates the dodginess wasn’t on his end. I say it every time with Johnson but he’s had one of the strangest UFC runs ever when you look back through his record. Wins over Dustin Poirier, Tony Ferguson and Edson Barboza but has somehow ended up with a 24-19 record and losses to a bunch of way inferior fighters to that lot. He’s kept plugging away though and, right now, he’s actually on an unexpected three fight winning streak. It’s alright, this fight. Does look out of place on the main card of a numbered event in 2026 to me though. 

 

Gregory Rodrigues vs Brunno Ferreira 2 then. Another rematch. This was supposed to be Ferreira against Paulo Costa but, surprise surprise, Costa pulled out. ‘Robocop’ Greg stepped in and here we are. Actually think I like this better anyway, to be honest. You know with their styles it’s probably gonna be a slugfest. The first one was short and sweet…

They fought at UFC 283 back in January 2023. It was actually Ferreira’s UFC debut and, the funny thing is, he’d stepped in on short notice after Rodrigues’ original opponent dropped out. Now the roles are reversed and it’s Rodrigues filling in. Anyway yeah, Ferreira ended up scoring the knockout late in the first round. I barely remember anything else about it so I might revisit it for this thread. They’ve both had mixed results since. Rodrigues has done pretty well for himself, going 5-1 with the only loss being to Jared Cannonier in a dogfight last February. He rebounded with a horrific KO win over Jack Hermansson in June then beat Roman Kopylov on points at MSG in November. Ferreira’s gone 5-2 and is coming off a decision win over Marvin Vettori at UFC 323 in December. Yeah, I like this rematch. A chance at redemption for Rodrigues. Fair play to Ferreira for accepting the replacement as well despite already being 1-0.

 

Cody Garbrandt vs Xiao Long. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Garbrandt’s getting to that point now where it’s feeling a bit like Renan Barao at the end. He’s not that washed up but just in terms of going from being champion to a ‘where is he now?’ propping up the prelims. It’d be hard to even remember he was ever champ if it wasn’t for the fact people on social media keep furiously bumming his title winning performance in the Dominick Cruz fight. That fight will be a ten years old in December and there are fans out there who still seem to believe that version of Cody Garbrandt will come back one day. But at 34 years old, I think it’s clear he’s done as any kind of top level fighter. He’s 14-7 now, has gone 2-4 in his last six and he’s coming into this fight off back-to-back losses. On paper this is a step down but I’m still not sure he wins. That’s where we’re at with Cody now. China’s Xiao Long is 27 years old with a record of 27-10, 14 coming inside the distance. He’s 1-2 in the UFC so far and I’m not gonna pretend I’m familiar with him. Think I’ve seen a couple of his fights but nothing is jumping out in my memory. It’s pretty obvious this is the matchmakers trying to throw Cody a bone but if he loses a fight like this, man, I don’t know what you do with him. That might well be it for him.

 

Donte Johnson vs Cody Brundage. Another card change. This was originally Johnson against Dusko Todorovic but that’s off. Shitarse Brundage steps in. Smashing. Johnson’s 27 and undefeated at 7-0 with a 100% finish rate. Hasn’t beat anyone of note yet but did submit woman beating scumbag Sedriques Dumas in his UFC debut in November. Good stuff. Although I remember he was kind of defending Dumas after the fight for some reason, as if the shit he gets from media and fans is harsh or something. “I guarantee you that’s a good man. I think people should just get off his back. We’re all sinners.” Imagine saying that about a cunt with multiple arrests for domestic violence? Yeah, bollocks to that. Wouldn’t mind seeing him bash up Brundage here though. Him going on a bit of a tour of battering some of these ham and egger dickheads wouldn’t upset me. Brundage is 11-8-1-1, has lost his last two in a row and is coming in fresh off getting stopped by Cam Rowston on the Sydney card a few weeks ago.

 

Alberto Montes vs Ricky Turcios is another fight that’s been chucked on the card late in the day. Turcios was all set to fight Cameron Smotherman at UFC 324 back in January but you might remember Smotherman had an awful weight cut and actually faceplanted on the stage at the weigh in after stepping off the scale. Obviously the fight got binned immediately. Turcios won TUF back in 2021 but he’s had mixed results since. He’s 32 now with a record of 12-5. Not much of a finisher but generally pretty entertaining from what I’ve seen/can remember of him. Really needs a win now though. He’s gone 1-3 in his last four and is coming off back-to-back losses against Raul Rosas Jr and Benardo Sopaj. Montes is making his first Octagon appearance. He’s Venezuelan, 31 years old and 11-1 with seven finishes. He’s won his last three fights by submission, including his anaconda choke finish on DWCS in October.

 

Cody Durden vs Nyamjargal Tumendemberel. Don’t know. Durden’s a prick but I can’t deny I’ve enjoyed some of his fights. In particular, he had an absolute corker against Jake Hadley a couple of years ago that went under a lot of radars. If you never saw it and have 15 minutes to kill, I’d recommend it. He’s floundering lately though. He’s gone 1-5 in his last six fights, lost his last three in a row and was finished in his last two. Nyamjargal Tumendemberel is a piss take of a name. Bloke needs a snappy nickname sharpish. Apparently his actual nickname is ‘Art Of Knockout’, which is funny because out of his nine wins he’s only ended two by KO/TKO. Anyway, he’s Mongolian, 27 years old and 9-1 with eight finishes. Haven’t seen him fight yet but he’s coming off a first round submission win on Road To UFC back in August.

 

Su Mudaerji vs Jesus Aguilar is alright. Has potential to be a bit of a banger but I don’t know anymore. Su Mudaerji had that incredible bloodbath war with Matt Schnell a few years ago and that went a long way with me. There’s only so long he can dine out on that though and the truth is he hasn’t been much fun to watch since really. He’s 18-7 now and coming off a couple of decisions over Mitch Raposo and Kevin Borjas. Aguilar is 12-3 with eight finishes. He got fed to Tatsuro Taira in his UFC debut in early 2023 and bounced back with a stunning 17 second one punch knockout over Shannon Ross at UFC 290. Pretty forgettable 3-1 run since then though. I don’t know. The ingredients are there for a fun scrap but I’m not confident it plays out that way.

 

Rafael Tobias vs Diyar Nurgozhay might be worth checking out. Brazil’s Tobias is only 22 years old and has a 14-1 record with 11 of his wins not requiring the judges. He’s on a six fight winning streak and scored a first round submission on DWCS last time out in September. Interesting nickname as well…

Nurgozhay is from Kazakhstan, a somewhat weathered looking 28 years old and he’s 10-2 with 8 finishes. He won via headkick on DWCS in late 2024 but he’s gone 0-2 so far in the UFC, getting subbed twice by Brendson Ribeiro and Uran Satybaldiev. Seems like a fight clearly designed for Tobias to have a bit of a showcase debut. You never know but on paper it looks like that’s the way this is going.

 

Luke Fernandez vs Rodolfo Bellato. Not a clue on this one. Never seen this Fernandez fella fight before. Looking him up, he’s 30 years old, unbeaten at 6-0 with five by KO/TKO and he’s coming in fresh off a 15 second knockout victory on DWCS in October. Not a bad way to enter the UFC. Bellato’s 29 with a record of 12-3-1-1 and 11 finishes. He’s been all over the shop results-wise in the UFC. His last four fights sum it up. A win, a draw, a No Contest and a loss. Christ. Only needs a DQ and he’s pretty much got the full house. The win over Ihor Potieria was a crazy back and forth wild srap. Well worth a watch if you never saw it. But yeah, he’s been all over the place in his last few fights. Feels like they’re trying to set him up to get chinned here but we’ll see.

 

 

MAX VS CHARLES 2!!

Edited March 6 by wandshogun09

[jimufctna24]

It's amazing that Oliveira can be accurately seen as an underachiever prior to 2018 nowadays.

Not that I would disagree, but prior to entering the UFC he was apparently seen as a bit of a joke on the Brazilian MMA circuit, despite sporting an unbeaten record.

Therefore, a respectable 7 or 8 year UFC run actually exceeded the expectations thay many had for him. Of course, what he achieved post 2017 went far beyond even that. 

[wandshogun09]

On 2/7/2026 at 1:23 AM, jimufctna24 said:

It's amazing that Oliveira can be accurately seen as an underachiever prior to 2018 nowadays.

Not that I would disagree, but prior to entering the UFC he was apparently seen as a bit of a joke on the Brazilian MMA circuit, despite sporting an unbeaten record.

I think I remember you saying this before. For the record, I wasn’t saying he was an underachiever pre-2018 myself. I don’t think there were any big expectations for him from people watching at the time. Even his second fight in the UFC they had him against TUF winner Efrain Escudero and I think the UFC and most media and fans would’ve still been looking at Escudero as the better prospect going into that fight. Pretty crazy with the benefit of hindsight.

For me, from Oliveira’s UFC debut in 2010 to him finally putting it all together and turning the corner in 2018, I remember just seeing him as a fun to watch but very inconsistent, flawed and often vulnerable fighter. I liked him from the off though. Just never saw him as anything more than an exciting fighter to spice up the undercards for years until it became clear he’d flipped a switch.

While I’m here, not that I needed any help getting up for this fight but the official promo has got the juices flowing…

Am I imagining it or did they stop doing these promos for a bit? Don’t feel like I’ve seen one like this for ages. It’s fights like this where I wish they’d bring back Primetime. A fight like this seems too good for a bog standard Countdown show. 

[Egg Shen]

What's the story behind him being a joke on the Brazilian scene? Never heard that before

[jimufctna24]

43 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

What's the story behind him being a joke on the Brazilian scene? Never heard that before

When Oliveira first entered the UFC, his ability wasn't highly thought of in Brazil, or by those who had viewed his fights. It was therefore seen as a given that the likes of Escudero would beat him. 

I recall his reputation being discussed on Sherdog Radio at the time. 

[wandshogun09]

Updated the opening post. Seems that whatever they were planning for that TBA vs TBA co-main fell through because Marcel Dorff’s got Borralho vs De Ridder in the co-main spot now. Think we all half expected that the later in the day it got.

They’ve randomly chucked a Drew Dober vs Michael Johnson fight onto the main card, which, I don’t hate at all as a fight but it doesn’t scream ‘main card’ for a numbered event at this point, does it? Couple of other little changes and pullouts but nothing major. I’ve updated everything with the previews and stuff.

Not a strong card at all but we’re two weeks away from Holloway vs Oliveira 2!

[wandshogun09]

Officially fight week! 

This gave me a chuckle. An old tweet of mine from 2014 (so before their first fight) which shows just how long I’ve been wanting to see Max vs Charles. And Max even responded to it. 

State of that. 4:04am. Tagging them and Dana and all sorts in an attempt to somehow get something moving and make it happen. Trying to will it into existence. Then I finally get my wish in 2015 and it ends in crushing anti-climax. Only had to wait another 11 years but here we are. 

[Dai]

Pretty cool that he respoded though! 

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, I think he does a fair bit. Saw some guy earlier posted a video of his son whose birthday it was wishing Max luck and Max responded. I see Oliveira and Poirier interact with fans more than most as well. Unsurprising from those three, to be fair. Gotta be three of the soundest fighters on the roster over the last decade or so. 

[Dai]

You shoukd tag him again in that post from 2014 and see if he replies again, which would be pretty sweet. 

[jimufctna24]

2 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Officially fight week! 

This gave me a chuckle. An old tweet of mine from 2014 (so before their first fight) which shows just how long I’ve been wanting to see Max vs Charles. And Max even responded to it. 

State of that. 4:04am. Tagging them and Dana and all sorts in an attempt to somehow get something moving and make it happen. Trying to will it into existence. Then I finally get my wish in 2015 and it ends in crushing anti-climax. Only had to wait another 11 years but here we are. 

I have a burner account on X. I follow a couple of MMA-centric accounts from it. 

I didn't realise that you were IronMikey. I've seen you interact with Combat Chronicles (formerly Flea Man on boxing forums) a few times

 

[Bruce85]

It’s not the best card but that main event more than makes up for it! 
 

With Dustin gone, it’s going to be a very sad day for MMA when Max and Charles also hang up the gloves. Those 3 (plus Volk) have got to be some of the nicest, well loved fighters the UFC have ever had. 

[wandshogun09]

18 hours ago, jimufctna24 said:

I have a burner account on X. I follow a couple of MMA-centric accounts from it. 

I didn't realise that you were IronMikey. I've seen you interact with Combat Chronicles (formerly Flea Man on boxing forums) a few times

Yeah been mutuals with him for a few years now on there. He reads this forum from time to time, or at least he used to. He DM’d me once asking if I was, well me, on here 🤣 he’s a really good follow on Twitter. One of the few accounts that keep me sane on there these days along with Miguel Class, Slack and Caposa. 

[jimufctna24]

18 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Yeah been mutuals with him for a few years now on there. He reads this forum from time to time, or at least he used to. He DM’d me once asking if I was, well me, on here 🤣 he’s a really good follow on Twitter. One of the few accounts that keep me sane on there these days along with Miguel Class, Slack and Caposa. 

I've been a reader of Combat Chronicles's work for years from when he was Flea Man on boxing forums. He's incredibly knowledgeable about both boxing and MMA, and a better analyst than he gives himself credit for. He's bonkers, but very likeable.

I follow Slack too and listen to his podcast. The other two dudes you mentioned are good follows from what I have seen too. 

 

[NeverYield]

I remember FleaMan posting.

Never knew he is combat chronicles though

Edited March 2 by NeverYield