Max Holloway will face Charles Oliveira in a rematch 10-plus years in the making when the two face off in the main event scheduled for UFC 326 on March 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and shown on Paramount+.
No. 7 ranked middleweight contender Caio Borralho (17-2) will face No. 8 Reinier De Ridder (21-3) in the co-main event.
Holloway beat Oliveira by TKO in a featherweight bout on Aug. 23, 2015, that lasted less than two minutes after the latter said he suffered a freak neck injury.
Holloway previously told Uncrowned of opposing Oliveira: “That’s the fight I want. That’s a fight a lot of people want to see. We have history. There’s not too many people right now that people are considering BMFs. But on that very short list, Charles Oliveira is one of them.
“So you tell me that I get to go out there and defend the BMF title again against a man who’s very respected, who I have history with? And (whenever) they talk about our (first) fight or he talks about it, (he blames) an injury or whatever, so let’s go figure it out.”
Oliviera also has been vocal about his desire for a rematch against Holloway.
“Everyone would love to see the Max fight…” he told Shak MMA in October, and said in December on his Instagram stories, “… this fight will happen. I want it, he wants it and you also want it.”
Holloway, 33, is a former UFC featherweight champion and current unofficial holder of the UFC’s “BMF” designation (a symbolic title representing the promotion’s “baddest” fighter). Holloway (27-8) retained the BMF title with a unanimous-decision win over Dustin Poirier in July at UFC 318.
The 36-year-old Oliveira (36-11, 1 no contest) is a former UFC lightweight champion, the class at which both he and Holloway currently compete.
–Field Level Media
