Not all BMF title fights are created equal, and the grappling-heavy affair between Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira drew a line in the sand, placing UFC boss Dana White on one side and Joe Rogan on the other. Although a title like BMF and the history between Holloway and Oliveira promised balls-to-the-wall action, it went a different way, even inviting boos from the UFC 326 crowd at the T-Mobile Arena. Dana White, particularly, wasn’t a fan and expressed his disappointment at how the fight turned out. However, the UFC color commentator Joe Rogan doesn’t agree.
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“Look, he didn’t like… this Max Holloway-Charles Oliveira fight,” Rogan told Dustin Poirier on JRE MMA Show #176. “He didn’t like it. Like the BMF fight… wasn’t that good. I was like, I thought it was a great fight.”
Even Poirier, who has fought both, chimed in, claiming he was an instant fan of the bout.
“It was impressive if you were a fan of technique and a fan of how hard it is to do that to somebody like Max,” Poirier said. “Like, super impressive.”
Joe Rogan further defended the fight, highlighting how good the performance was from Charles Oliveira.
“And I was a fan of Max’s defense,” he said. “I mean, Oliveira was on his back in the first round. A lot of people would have finished there… I mean, I think Oliveira is one of the greatest submission artists that ever competed in the sport, if not the best.”
Notably, ‘The Diamond’ faced Charles Oliveira once in December 2021, losing the fight via submission. And he fought Holloway thrice, winning the first two, but losing the third. And it’s not just Joe Rogan and Dustin Poirier who were impressed by ‘Do Bronx’s performance. Arman Tsarukyan, who defeated the Brazilian in a close fight at UFC 300, was surprised as well.
He felt Oliveira did “well” and was expecting him to win, but the dominance the Brazilian showcased against Max Holloway left him shocked. At the same time, however, the No. 2-ranked lightweight claimed he understood the backlash from fans, who called the fight boring. He revealed that he was sitting in the front row for the fight and was “bored.”
Arman Tsarukyan pointed to a lack of ground-and-pound and overall striking from Charles Oliveira as a reason the fight fell short on excitement. Interestingly, when the Brazilian faced Holloway back in August 2015, the fight ended in the first round via a technical knockout after Oliveira suffered an injury. Regardless, Tsarukyan is far from the only one who shares that view.
Mauricio Ruffy doesn’t agree with Joe Rogan, but was forced to concede
Mauricio Ruffy wasn’t a big fan of the fight between Holloway and Oliveira. Ruffy questioned Oliveira’s grappling-heavy approach.
“Because of the title… I expected them to embrace that characteristic… to stand and trade,” he said. “If you go in there just to clinch and hold someone… You end up losing opportunities.”
Vitoria Brum, Oliveira’s wife, fired back on social media.
“Then let’s schedule a boxing match because if you want a fight, in the damn MMA, so there’s going to be jiu-jitsu,” she wrote. “Don’t try to ride my husband’s wave.”
Following the backlash, Ruffy clarified his stance, admitting he “expressed myself poorly” and emphasized his respect for Oliveira.
“It’s no secret how much of a fan I am of Charles, how much I don’t want to fight Charles at all,” Ruffy said. “Unless it’s something that absolutely has to happen, but I’d dodge it in every possible way because I don’t want that fight.”
The split reaction to the Holloway-Oliveira bout highlights a classic MMA dilemma: the fan’s desire for a stand-up brawl versus the purist’s appreciation for technical mastery. While Dana White’s critique echoed the disappointment of those seeking a war, the praise from Rogan and Poirier championed Oliveira’s strategic dominance, leaving the definition of a ‘BMF’ performance more debatable than ever.
