Charles Oliveira doesn’t expect Max Holloway to pose much of a
submission threat at UFC 326. | Getty/UFC
Eleven years after their first encounter in the main event of UFC
Fight Night 74 in Canada, Charles
Oliveira and Max
Holloway will face each other again on Saturday.
This time the fight will take place in Las Vegas in
UFC 326 main event, and the BMF title will be at stake. Shortly
before boarding a plane at São Paulo airport with his team on
Sunday, Charles
Oliveira spoke with Brazilian journalist Laerte Viana and
assured him that he is arriving for this rematch in the best
condition of his career.
“Renting a house 800 meters from Chute Boxe made all the
difference,” Oliveira said. “When I came from my house in Guarujá,
I had to wake up at 6 a.m. to get to training at 11 a.m. Living
next to the gym, I could wake up at 10 a.m. to get to training at
11 a.m. In other words, I was able to rest more and recover better
for the training routine, and that made all the difference.”
Paying Due Respect
Oliveira made sure to acknowledge the merits of his opponent, who
is a betting favorite entering the fight.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” he said. “Holloway has a huge
volume of strikes and is a guy who sells the fight inside the cage.
He deserves all my respect.”
The Brazilian veteran has vowed to due the BMF belt justice with
his performance.
“I’m going to win by being myself, hunting him all the time,
muffling him, moving around and landing my punches,” Oliveira said.
“Whoever throws such a high volume of strikes also exposes
themselves.”
The greatest finisher in UFC history made it clear that he doesn’t
believe Holloway’s promise to take the fight to the ground.
“That’s definitely a bluff,” said Oliveira, who plans to make
himself available to fight at the White House if victorious. “But
we trained for everything. My promise is to hunt him all the
time.”