UFC 326 is in the books, and we have a new BMF champion.
Charles Oliveira dominated Max Holloway for 25 minutes on Saturday, driving the fight with oppressive wrestling and ground control, much to the chagrin of most of the fan base. On top of that, the UFC finally announced the matchups for the White House card this summer, which was also met with tepid responses.
So, following the latest numbered event, the MMA Fighting crew gathered to break down the biggest storylines from this Saturday’s big event.
1. What’s your blurb review of UFC 326?
Heck: As a man who has made it a mission to be more positive in 2026, this card wasn’t it. If the UFC White House card wasn’t announced, it would be one of the most forgettable numbered cards in a very long time.
Martin: UFC 326 was definitely “BMF”. That was a boring mother …well, you get the point.
Meshew: UFC 326 was the first time I really started to give credence to the idea that MMA and the UFC’s product might be in serious trouble.
2. Did Charles Oliveira just kill the BMF title?
Lee: There’s nothing more BMF than winning fights and getting paid, but yeah, he kind of did. And you know what? Mercy killing.
Heading into Saturday, I stated my belief that this current iteration of the BMF belt has run its course both in terms of fan interest and matchmaking utility. Oliveira’s win only strengthened that opinion. There’s no one to blame here, not Oliveira, not the matchmakers, not even Holloway, who grappled his heart out just to make it to the scorecards. Sometimes you have amazing matchups on paper that turn out to be duds.
What we can take from this is that belts don’t guarantee excitement and certainly can’t force someone to fight a certain way. All this particular trinket has become is another title to slot into a headlining spot in accordance with the UFC’s relentless Paramount+ schedule. How fun!
Once this thing became corporate, the BMF magic already started to rapidly fade. It needs a break, and if it’s gone for good, I won’t shed too many tears for it.
Heck: Can you actually kill something that isn’t real?
Let me just say that what Charles Oliveira did on Saturday night was incredibly impressive. He straight hossed Max Holloway for 25 minutes in a fight that wasn’t competitive outside of the first 15 seconds. To do that to Holloway was truly eye-opening. To add even more context, Holloway landed 26 significant strikes in the fight. 26! For Max Holloway! Sick, sick stuff from “Du Bronx.”
However, the fan base doesn’t seem to care.
The BMF thing just has a different vibe, and while Oliveira needed this win to stay in the title hunt, it didn’t encapsulate what those three letters stand for, and that’s certainly not Oliveira’s fault because winning is the most important thing. Unfortunately, this is just a concept that provides an expectation that can’t be delivered upon 100 percent of the time, and it’s for a belt that’s NOT REAL. This was only supposed to happen one time, remember? And the reason it got extra juice is that it went to the best and most fun division in the sport. I’m sure Oliveira is happy to put the BMF belt in his trophy case, but the belt he really cares about is the one Ilia Topuria owns after brutally icing him less than a year ago.
Should it go away forever? It really should. It won’t, though.
Should we wait a few of years, at least, before the BMF title is a prize in a fight? 1,000 percent!
The “BMF” title was supposed to just be a one-time thing, but then half the athletes on the roster started calling for a shot at that belt, and the UFC always needs title fights, so it just became a thing. But this isn’t some No. 1 contender’s belt where winning means you actually get a shot at the real undisputed title. Instead, “BMF” effectively became known as the stand-and-bang title where the two fighters involved are expected to trade bombs on the feet until one of them falls over.
To this point, that worked out pretty well for the “BMF” title, but Oliveira was clearly more concerned with actually winning than putting on some kind of wild melee to please the crowd. And let’s be honest, Oliveira made the right choice — he dominated Holloway in a way that nobody has ever done before in the UFC, and that’s damn impressive.
It’s almost like everybody forgot that Oliveira is the most prolific submission artist in UFC history so it shouldn’t be all that shocking that he went for takedowns and effectively mauled Holloway on the ground. That’s just not what the bloodthirsty “BMF” crowd wants — and I get it, that’s the way the championship has been sold thus far. Now the only hope is that Oliveira drops that title in the trash, Alundra Blayze style, and he just goes for the ACTUAL lightweight belt instead.
Meshew: Yes, at least for a while.
I’ve always been higher on the BMF belt than others, because I think it’s a harmless way to celebrate more fighters. Not every fighter can hold a championship, and thus far, the BMF matchmaking has been great, with the belt serving as a de facto Legends Title. But last night, the legend may have ended.
I have no issue with Charles Oliveira doing what it takes to win a fight, and I was EXTREMELY impressed with his performance. But even the most ardent “Do Bronx” fan must admit that if the BMF belt was mostly based on vibes, Oliveira didn’t pass the vibes check. At all.
Had Oliveira at least taken the initiative to offer Holloway the point down at the end of the fight (for more than four seconds) that may have been enough to at least curry favor with the fan base. But that’s not how it went. Now, if Oliveira comes out and defends this title against whoever it may be, the whole affair will feel hollow. The man behind the curtain has been revealed.
Fortunately, there’s an obvious solution to this whole situation. At UFC White House, Ilia Topuria is going to defend his title against Justin Gaethje. After that, I would bet you just about anything that he will drop the belt and move to welterweight. That leaves a vacant title, and so instead of defending the BMF belt, Oliveira can rematch Arman Tsarukyan for the vacant lightweight title this fall, with the BMF belt being put on the shelf until another fitting fight presents itself.
3. What’s next for Max Holloway?
We knew Saturday’s main event loser would be in a weird spot, but the manner in which Holloway lost left us with even more questions as to how to handle the last chapter of his career. Holloway still rules and fans love him, so opportunities are there; it’s simply a matter of maximizing (heh heh) what’s left of his cage time.
I’ve settled on Michael Chandler. Yes, Chandler already has a date with Mauricio Ruffy at the White House. And yes, Chandler will probably lose, so if he’s granted a fight with Holloway, it would be another case of the irrepressible Chandler falling upwards. But consider it a BMF makeup fight, because if there’s one thing Chandler won’t do, it’s try and take Holloway down, so we’re guaranteed a banger that will help us forget an already forgettable headliner.
Heck: This is a very tough question, with a plethora of options, but I’m going with Benoit Saint Denis, because that fight is bananas.
Of course, after seeing Holloway struggle with takedowns against Oliveira, Saint Denis can present a whole heap of problems, and on top of that, Saint Denis will try to hurt Holloway on the ground. However, if Holloway’s takedown defense can hold up, then we could be in for a really violent treat.
Could the UFC go with a rematch with Conor McGregor? Sure. Would Dan Hooker be fun? Definitely. Could the UFC get real weird and go Arman Tsarukyan or Paddy Pimblett? Unlikely, but not out of the realm of possibility. If Holloway can return by the summer, I think a fight with BSD makes a lot of sense.
Martin: Truth be told, it’s still really whatever Holloway wants outside of a title shot.
Holloway has built a career that will eventually land him in the UFC Hall of Fame, which is why this loss is obviously disappointing but doesn’t necessarily boot him from title contention, much less make him any less likely to headline a future card.
But the real curiosity is that Holloway is 34 years old — he’ll turn 35 before the end of the year — and he’s been competing at this level for what seems like forever. He’s got so many fights under his belt that you can’t help but wonder if Holloway is contemplating when the sand in his hourglass will run out.
So, ideally, Holloway getting somebody like Conor McGregor actually makes sense now, but it’s still not totally clear that the former two-division champion is really going to compete again. So, absent that matchup, let Holloway go up against Paddy Pimblett.
Sure, Pimblett is a nasty grappler in his own right, but he’s nowhere near Charles Oliveira, so that might show where Holloway has gotten better since his loss at UFC 326. If he can shut down the grappling and slice up Pimblett on the feet, then Holloway proves he’s still an elite lightweight.
Meshew: I’m gonna go with something I never would have thought I’d say a few months ago: Holloway goes back to 145.
Holloway is a legend, and he can still beat plenty of guys at 155 pounds, but on Saturday, Oliveira dominated him, in part because he was significantly larger. It seems like big grapplers are going to be a problem for Holloway at this weight, and the truth is, why bother?
Alexander Volkanovski has, at best, one fight left at 145 pounds, and then he’s going to either retire or move up to lightweight. And while Holloway fought most of the old guard at featherweight, there’s a new crop of rising contenders he’s never faced. Let’s have Max return to his proper weight class and serve either as an elite test for the up-and-comers or make one final title run.
