Oliveira said he 'made it look easy' in his win over Holloway despite some harsh words from fellow fighters
By Brent Brookhouse Mar 18, 2026 at 2:40 pm ET • 3 min read 
Getty Images Charles Oliveira took the BMF championship from Max Holloway at UFC 326, but Oliveira's dominant performance didn't hit the mark of what the title represents for many people. Even many of Oliveira's fellow UFC veterans called out the Brazilian for failing to embrace the spirit of a BMF title fight.
Oliveira scored five takedowns in the five-round fight with Holloway, one in each round. Once the fight hit the floor, Oliveira's jiu-jitsu dominated the action, leading to just shy of 21 minutes of ground control over the 25-minute fight.
No one has nullified Holloway's game the way Oliveira did at UFC 326, but the symbolic BMF title was on the line that night and many felt that belt's inclusion meant the fighters had an obligation to eschew grappling and engage in a striking war.
UFC 326 results, takeaways: Charles Oliveira surprises Max Holloway, and fans, with gameplan to win BMF title Brian Campbell
Oliveira, however, doesn't really care how his approach was received.
"I came in to fight a guy that nobody had dominated, nobody had taken down," Oliveira said in an interview with Olhar da Luta. "Everyone who took him down, he would hit the mat and get right back up and then go on to do what he does, point down with 10 seconds left and knock them out. I came into a fight where, with all due respect, I made it look easy.
"The best hands, the best kicks, I was the one landing. My ground game was flawless. He defended, sure, but my ground was impeccable. There wasn't a single moment where things got bad for me. I was the one who called him to the center and started landing. My hands got through. The only punch he landed hit my shoulder, and that's the one that threw me off balance."
In truth, it should have been no surprise that Oliveira would engage his grappling against Holloway. The narrative ahead of the fight was that Holloway -- one of the best stand-up fighters in UFC history -- had the better striking. Oliveira also sports a UFC-record 17 submission wins.
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With an average of 2.3 takedowns per 15 minutes of Octagon time, Oliveira's ability to take fighters down and dominate them on the canvas showed that there was a far easier path to victory than to stand and trade strikes with a future Hall of Famer in Holloway, who once famously took the time during his fight with Calvin Kattar to announce to the commentary team, "I'm the best boxer in the UFC." Holloway landed a record 445 significant strikes that night.
"I got criticized saying it was a bad fight. I think when professional fighters say that was a bad fight, that's jealousy. To dominate a guy like Max Holloway for five rounds, which I think should've all been 10-8 rounds given the level of control, and then say I didn't stood and traded?"
In the end, Oliveira said, all that matters is that he took the belt home to Brazil.
"I don't know what they want," Oliveira said of those criticizing him. "For the next fight, I want them to tell me the game plan. What do you want me to do? Muay Thai, judo, kung fu, surfing? What am I supposed to do so people are satisfied? Because if I go in there and win the fight and it's still not good enough, then there's nothing I can do. But the most important thing is: the BMF champion is Charles Oliveira, Charles 'do Bronx.' We brought a belt to Brazil that no Brazilian had ever won. So whether people like it or not, we're the champions."
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