Holloway Prepared For Oliveira’s Grappling – ‘I Am Very Confident’

BMF Champion Max Holloway is leaving no stone unturned for his rematch against Charles Oliveira at UFC 326 on March 7. 

Holloway won the first fight after Oliveira picked up a neck injury, which meant he could not continue during the first round. Holloway is widely regarded as one of the greatest volume strikers in MMA history, but for this training camp, “Blessed” has taken a surprising turn. Rather than focusing solely on keeping the fight at range, Holloway has spent the last several months leaning into his grappling—even in traditional Gi for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) sessions.

Holloway currently boasts an elite 83% takedown defense rate, a statistic that has made him one of the hardest puzzles to solve for grapplers. And yet, Holloway has openly teased the idea of “beating the specialist at his own game,” aiming to be the first man to submit Oliveira in nearly a decade.

Holloway Reacts

“I find it funny, people say that this is a striker vs grappler matchup, but this is MMA. Charles is not a straight jiu-jitsu guy, he uses his strikes to set up his grappling. I’ve seen some people say, ‘If it goes to the ground, it’s over for Max,’ and I’m like, what?! I am very confident in my takedown defense, but also my ground game. I’ve been training in jiu-jitsu for years, I love it.

“I have way more jiu-jitsu sessions now than any other aspect, and I actually like them the most. I like training in the gi. I saw some things online with people saying why am I doing that, it’s unrealistic. But if you can’t hold me down in a gi, then you’re not going to hold me down when I’m all sweaty in an MMA fight,” Holloway said

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