Max Holloway may have won the initial installment of his rivalry with Charles Oliveira in 2015, but their upcoming UFC 326 clash will be on different grounds, and 'Blessed' is leaving no stone unturned to be the best version of himself.

Besides the BMF belt being on the line for the fight, Holloway and Oliveira will square off at lightweight this time, instead of featherweight. On March 6, both fighters completed their weigh-ins successfully, making the fight official.

Holloway's striking coach, Ivan Flores, appeared in the UFC Embedded video to talk about the reigning BMF champ's UFC 326 training camp. He said, “Preparation's been great. The vibe is good. The energy is great. Looks really happy, Max looks really excited, ready to go.”

Besides preparing at Gracie Technics and Legacy Muay, his usual training facilities, Holloway has already touched down in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is training at the UFC PI.

However, Holloway knows that just striking may not get the job done against a slick submission artist like Oliveira. But according to Holloway, he has enough tools to handle 'Do Bronxs's' high-level BJJ.

In an interview with ESPN, he said, "I find it funny, people say that this is a striker vs grappler matchup, but this is MMA. I’ve been training in jiu-jitsu for years, and I love it. I have way more jiu-jitsu sessions now than any other aspect, and I actually like them the most."

Fans were also curious about Holloway's decision to train in a gi for the fight, when it wouldn't even be involved in the fight. He had a sharp answer, “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.”

But the question is, did Holloway have enough time to train in traditional BJJ? Well, according to Flores, he did.

Max Holloway Was Ahead Of Schedule In Training

Last month, in one of Holloway's YouTube videos, Ivan Flores revealed that 'Blessed's' UFC 326 training camp is going ahead of schedule. He said, “We’ve still got some time left before we even head out, you know? I almost feel like we’re ahead, almost ahead of schedule.”

Holloway and Oliveira had their first clash at UFC Fight Night 74 in August 2015. Holloway defeated the Brazilian via first-round TKO due to an esophagus injury. Years later, they are once again face-to-face, and this time Holloway is planning to knock Oliveira out.

“I just need to be smart. I need to fight my game plan. I need to go in there, you know, do what I’ve got to do to get my hand raised. And that’s what I plan on doing,” Holloway said.

So, while 'Blessed' is confident about repeating his feat against Oliveira with the combination of his volume striking and ground game, are you also feeling the same way?

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Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Souvik Roy