MAX HOLLOWAY has refused to close the door on sealing the unlikeliest of finishes in his BMF showdown with Charles Oliveira.
The former long-reigning featherweight champion will make his second defence of the BMF belt against his fellow fan favourite early on Sunday morning in the main event of UFC 326 in Las Vegas.
MMA fans around the world are expecting the fight to be one in which Holloway does everything in his power to avoid going to the ground with BJJ phenom Oliveira.
But ‘Blessed’, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, insists he’s more than capable of pulling off a spectacular submission win of his own.
He told ESPN: “The narrative is for this fight.
“If we can keep it on the feet, it’s me, and if we go to the ground, it’s like 200% [Oliveira].
“Which is crazy. I feel like we both fought at the highest levels.
“Never say never.
“My coaches just keep seeing interviews of me talking about jiu-jitsu and subbing him, and they laugh.
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“But at the end of the day, people call me crazy, a BMF thing to do would be to submit a submission artist.”
Holloway’s last submission victory came nearly 11 YEARS AGO in a featherweight showdown with Cub Swanson.
Holloway claimed the BMF belt in April 2024 with a stunning buzzer-beater KO of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300.
He defended it last July with a unanimous decision victory over Dustin Poirier in his fellow fan favourite’s retirement fight at UFC 318.
Former lightweight champion Oliveira will look to continue his winning ways in Sunday morning’s Sin City showdown.
He bounced back from last June’s brutal first-round KO loss to Ilia Topuria with a second-round submission win over Mateusz Gamrot last October.
