Max Holloway has his sights on a second consecutive successful defense of the BMF title.
After getting past Dustin Poirier in their trilogy last July, Holloway will be challenged by Charles Oliveira in the UFC 326 main event.
The Brazilian is looking to become the new BMF champion and avenge his 2025 loss to ‘Blessed’, which saw Oliveira beaten by TKO after a mystery injury left him unable to continue after just 99 seconds.
To get revenge, one striking coach thinks the Brazilian’s path to victory lies in his renowned pressure.
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Striking coach Sean Madden says Max Holloway must avoid the fence at UFC 326
Oliveira has become known for his forward-charging style. While that has not always paid off and has left him vulnerable to shots, striking coach Sean Madden believes that relentless style will be needed at UFC 326.
While speaking to E. Spencer Kyte for UFC.com, Madden warned Holloway against being backed up against the fence, which he described as MMA’s “death trap.”
“When we go back and look at the fight with Max and Ilia (Topuria), before Max got knocked out, Ilia took him down against the fence,” Madden said. “The way I look at the fence in MMA now is that it’s a death trap, largely.
“You’re fighting in an alley now, and the odds for the other person go up now, especially for someone that is an agent of chaos like Charles Oliveira. He has exchanges there, his clinch ability there, and the takedown is there too, and I trust Charles will probably be the bigger guy on fight night.
“Charles needs to cut the cage, and he needs to start this fight with chaos right off the bat, not allow Max to dictate the range and the tempo in the first two rounds. If that happens, I favor Charles,” he continued. “For Max, the longer the fight goes, the better it is for him.
“I say it a lot that fighting in the middle of the cage, fighting downhill, is way better than fighting uphill, which is your back against the fence. The longer the fight goes, the bigger the cage gets for Max — the more space he has, the more he can move his feet.”
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Despite many seeing it as his rival’s best hope of a win in Las Vegas, Holloway has welcomed grappling exchanges with Oliveira.
The Hawaiian fan favorite has been submitted just once in his career and has avoided a repeat since falling to Poirier’s triangle armbar in 2013.
But if anyone can break that streak on the ground, it’s the UFC’s submission king, ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira.