Athletes
MAX HOLLOWAY NOT SMELLING THE FLOWERS YET
BMF Champ Talks Pointing To The Canvas, Rematch With Charles Oliveira And More Ahead Of UFC 326
Max Holloway would like to set the record straight about his signature move because, since he broke it out against Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 and delivered one of the most iconic knockouts in UFC history, far too many people have been pointing to the canvas and bastardizing one of the coolest possible moves in MMA.
“I get harassed online after every UFC card or feeder shows telling me I ‘ruined the sport’ because of that, but it’s not my fault, bro,” said Holloway, who first broke out his “you and me, right here; let’s get after it” invitation at The Forum against Ricardo Lamas at UFC 199, creating a moment so instantly memorable that EA Sports immediately created a patch to put the move in the latest iteration of the UFC game. “People doing it in random moments or in the first 10 seconds, I’m like, ‘That’s not what it is!’
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“If you guys wanna make another, go ahead, but the moment I’m talking about is what you said: you’re up in the fight, you’re giving this guy the Hail Mary pass, but if you are doing it, you need to stay there and do it.”
The Hawaiian legend shook his head, displeased with the way people are misusing his move.
Main Event Preview | UFC 326: Holloway vs Oliveira 2
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Main Event Preview | UFC 326: Holloway vs Oliveira 2
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“If you’re losing, why are you asking for a chance?” he added with a smirk. “You had 14 minutes or 24 minutes to get it done. At the end of the day, I think I need to keep telling people the rules of what it is.”
Those moments are but two in the storied career of the reigning BMF titleholder, who puts his belt on the line this weekend against Charles Oliveira in a rematch 10 years in the making at UFC 326.
RELATED: Holloway vs Oliveira Rematch Timeline
First paired off when they were baby-faced hopefuls in the featherweight division, Holloway and Oliveira headlined the promotion’s first (and thus far only) venture to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The Sunday afternoon affair ended prematurely, with Oliveira suffering a mysterious injury that to this day has never quite been fully explained, bringing the event to an anticlimactic end.
A little more than a decade later, with both men having stood as undisputed champions and established themselves as legends in the sport, they’re set to meet again, not in a small barn in the Prairies, but at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“It’s huge, brother —this is huge!” Holloway said excitedly when asked about finally facing Oliveira for a second time. “He was my first main event. I don’t know if it was for him, and now 10, 11 years later, we’re main eventing a card in the Fight Capital of the World, here in Las Vegas —“The Ninth Island “—with the BMF title; that’s insane to think.
“If you told me (during that week), ‘Look, you’re gonna rematch him, and it’s gonna be for a title, but it’s a title called the BMF title, and you’re gonna do it in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas,’ I would have looked at you and said, ‘You’re on drugs! Are you making up fake things now?”
The rematch will be legendary 👀@BlessedMMA vs @CharlesDoBronxs 2
— UFC (@ufc) March 4, 2026
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While we both rightfully broke out laughing, there is truth and beauty in Holloway’s playful statement.
T-Mobile Arena still hadn’t opened when the 34-year-old Hawaiian and his Brazilian adversary first threw down at the SaskTel Centre, and the BMF title wasn’t introduced until four years later. Additionally, both Holloway and Oliveira were still young in the game, chasing greatness in the featherweight division.
MORE UFC 326: Oliveira Fight Week Interview | De Ridder Is Straight To The Point | Fighters On The Rise | Co-Main Event Spotlight
“It’s amazing, man; it’s amazing to see how far the sport has come, how far me and him came, and the legacy we were able to build in the time of not seeing each other, and we’re here now,” said Holloway, reflecting on the journey from there to here. “For this fight, what it shows is our longevity in the sport. We were Top 10 when we fought the first time at featherweight and now look: we’re Top 5 in the weight class above.
“People seem to forget I got into the pound-for-pound rankings in 2016, 2015, and I’m still in the pound-for-pound rankings since then,” he added with a hint of a smile, proud of all he has accomplished, but never one to pump his own tires too much. “It’s cool to see the longevity and to see us here, doing it, and doing it at the highest level.”
Though Holloway unquestionably has an appreciation for the career he’s been able to craft inside the Octagon and the moments he’s already shared with the likes of José Aldo, Alexander Volkanovski, Gaethje, and Dustin Poirier, “Blessed” is nowhere close to ready to stop and relish in those moments.
Max Holloway Knocks Out Justin Gaethje, Wins BMF Belt | UFC 300
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Max Holloway Knocks Out Justin Gaethje, Wins BMF Belt | UFC 300
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There is still too much he wants to do yet.
“Yes and no,” he said when asked if he’s starting to take personal satisfaction and greater meaning from some of these iconic fights against legendary contemporaries. “In the moment, for sure. Having that time with the last fight in Louisiana, being able to share that moment with Poirier, have that fight – he made all of it happen. We used to listen to Lil’ Wayne growing up in high school, and Poirier made that opportunity of Lil’ Wayne wrapping the belt around (the winner happen), and that’s insane.
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“So those little moments for sure, but like you said, I got a s***-ton of time left in the sport,” he added, a hint of defiance in his voice as if he were telling those readying his retirement announcement they’re being way too premature. “I don’t wanna smell the flowers. You start to smell the flowers, you get comfortable, and I think that’s when you need to start telling yourself, ‘I gotta think of calling it,’ but I’m not at that point yet; I’m not in that mindset.
“I still want an undisputed title,” he added. “I still have a lot of work left to do, and that’s what I plan on doing.”
Not surprisingly, he’s already mapped out some of the potential options in front of him as well.
“A lot people keep saying, ‘You have the BMF title, the 155 BMF title; you’re a two-division champ’ but I want the undisputed title and to be a two-division champ that way, and then I wanna be able to defend the belt,” explained Holloway, who owns a 23-8 record in the UFC and 27-8 mark overall. “I don’t only wanna win the belt at 155, I wanna be able to defend it and say, ‘I defended it, and I’m one of the best in the world.’
“We’ll see what happens; there are a lot of fun fights,” he continued. “The interim title and Justin Gaethje; we have history. Ilia Topuria, the undisputed titleholder, we have history. First things first is Charles, he has all my respect and everything, but even with this BMF title, we talked about legacy —it started at 170, Conor McGregor’s talking about coming back; we have history.
Preview Every Matchup At UFC 326
“If I can go out there, do a moment — imagine doing a 300 moment here on March 7 on the Ninth Island, it’d be ri-dic-u-lous bro!” Holloway said, shifting his seat as he drew out the length of the word. “It’d be crazy! I’m excited, man; I’m excited.”
As much as he likes what the future may hold, the fourth-ranked lightweight contender and defending champion in this weekend’s main event understands that everything beyond this weekend is only unlocked by getting through Oliveira.
“It means the world, man; it means the world,” he said of defeating the Brazilian for a second time. “It’s another legend, adds to my legacy, and just getting my hand raised to right that wrong. I know he likes to talk about it a lot, and I heard him come out and say, ‘It wasn’t esophagus, it was neck,’ and it was serious to where he maybe could not be able to walk’ and when I heard I was like, ‘That’s crazy! Thank the Lord that’s not what it is.’
“But it’s to right the wrong,” Holloway reiterated. “I can’t wait. Charles has got our full attention. We go out there, make something spectacular happen, and then we jump back on another interview, and we make the call (for what’s next).”
And if the BMF champ does more BMF things this weekend and gets to call his shot, there are only two fights that truly have his interest.
“I mean, in a perfect world, it would be the undisputed title — I want Ilia —but it really sounds like him and Justin Gaethje got a date, so we’ll see what happens,” said Holloway. “The next best thing would be Conor McGregor.
“Bro — that’d be fun, that’d be a huge fight; Red Panty Night indeed, just like he said,” he added, laughing. “It’d be big. To try to get one back on him would be fun.
“But first things first.”
UFC 326: Holloway vs Oliveira 2 took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 7, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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