The Bigger Picture | UFC 326

Charles Oliveira dethroned Max Holloway in UFC 326's main event, becoming the fourth man to hold the BMF title with a masterful effort that saw him earn a clean sweep of the scorecards. In each round, the Brazilian truly only needed one takedown to put “Blessed” on the canvas and neutralize his offense, turning this from a potentially explosive fist fight into a one-way mugging on the ground.

The audience wasn’t particularly excited about the grappling-heavy affair, and Joe Rogan chastised them for booing on broadcast, repeatedly calling them “casuals” and singing the praises of “Do Bronxs,” who dominated from start to finish. While it wasn’t the slobberknocker the sellout crowd in Las Vegas wanted, there was something deeply satisfying about Oliveira’s performance and his ascension to the BMF throne.

UFC 326 Results, Highlights And Exclusive Interviews

Throughout its history, the BMF title has been fought for by strikers and contested in matchups that stayed exclusively on the feet. Holloway’s UFC 300 moment against Justin Gaethje became the symbol for the ceremonial belt and according to the boos that echoed through the arena on Saturday night, what people have come to expect whenever the BMF title is on the line. Daniel Cormier even pondered in the closing minute of the fight if there was a different expectation for how the fight should look given what was at stake.

Personally, I love that Oliveira claimed the title with a suffocating grappling attack, stifling everything Holloway tried to do, because there is something captivating about watching someone realize they have no answers.

Accepting that styles make fights and all the usual qualifiers we put on these things, my greatest takeaway from Saturday’s main event was further awe for welterweight champ Islam Makhachev and lightweight titleholder Ilia Topuria.

Late in the bout, I messaged that exact thought to striking coach Sean Madden, who had broken down the BMF title fight for this week’s installment of Coach Conversation, because Oliveira looked unstoppable. It was less than a year ago, however, that we saw him viciously stopped by Topuria, who had done something similar to Holloway six months earlier. And while Makhachev never crossed paths with “Blessed,” he won the lightweight title by submitting Oliveira in the second round after hurting him on the feet.

None of this is meant to take away from Oliveira’s accomplishment and the incredible legacy he has crafted; he was spectacular on Saturday night and I cannot wait to see what he does for an encore. But it’s impossible for me to see his last two performances, how dominant he’s been, primarily on the canvas, and not marvel at how little trouble Topuria and Makhachev encountered when they shared the Octagon with him.

WATCH: About Last Fight | The BMF Has A Name And It's Charles Oliveira

For the last year and change, I’ve been jokingly suggesting that the lightweight and welterweight champs might be two of the best fighters to ever compete — just otherworldly talents that haven’t yet gotten the kind of attention that is usually devoted to competitors flirting with being in the “G.O.A.T.” conversation. Juxtaposing the way Oliveira dominated Holloway on Saturday against their individual performances against the Brazilian BMF (and everything else they’ve respectively done) makes me wonder if we’re just actively trying not to talk about it for some reason?

Saturday night was about Oliveira, hands down, but Topuria and Makhachev definitely earned some residual shine in my opinion.

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Caio Borralho steadied himself in the middleweight Top 10 with a unanimous decision win over Reinier de Ridder that brought some further order to the way the 185-pound ranks line up heading into Q2. The Fighting Nerds standout called for a bout with former champ Dricus Du Plessis, and looking at the rankings and where everyone else between them stands, it makes a lot of sense.

Drew Dober remains one of the most consistently entertaining fighters on the roster, having picked up a second-round TKO win over Michael Johnson on Saturday, adding to his record for the most knockouts in UFC lightweight division history. Few people love competing as much as Dober and given the way he always brings it, don’t be surprised if we see him two more times in 2026, provided he’s healthy.

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When we talk about “fight-changing power,” we’re talking about the kind of dynamite that Gregory Rodrigues packs in his paws. “Robocop” needed one clean shot to earn a measure of revenge in his rematch with Brunno Ferreira, knocking out “The Hulk” to run his winning streak to three and cement his standing as a dangerous dark horse in the middleweight division.

I feel for Cody Garbrandt, who took multiple nasty low blows during his fight with Xiao Long and seemed to be in genuine distress for basically the entire third round. That felt like a fight where the referee should have just taken the onus to continue out of Garbrandt’s hands by disqualifying Xiao rather than keeping things going and having it end looking like it did.

The lineup for UFC Freedom 250 on June 14 at the White House was unveiled on Saturday’s broadcast and it is loaded.

Not only are we getting the lightweight title showdown between Topuria and Justin Gaethje that we’ve expected since UFC 324, but Alex Pereira is venturing to heavyweight for an interim title fight with Ciryl Gane in an attempt to become the first person to win UFC gold in three weight divisions. Sean O’Malley is facing Aiemann Zahabi in a critical bantamweight clash, Mauricio Ruffy and Michael Chandler will meet in a what is sure to be an explosive lightweight affair, Bo Nickal meets Kyle Daukaus in a sneaky good middleweight pairing and two-time featherweight title challenger Diego Lopes is hustling back into action against streaking finisher Steve Garcia.

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This is going to be a grand spectacle and a massive event in terms of media coverage and exposure, and this lineup reflects that as there are some serious breakout opportunities and historic possibilities woven into this six-fight affair.

Plus, UFC CEO Dana White hinted there could be a seventh fight eventually added to the mix, so have fun speculating about what that could be and go circle your calendars for this one.

And with that, I’m out. See you again after UFC 327.

Miss you, TG.