Charles Oliveira wants Max Holloway next, and the reigning “BMF” champion isn’t in the business of turning down fights.
Following his dominant submission win over Mateusz Gamrot in the UFC Rio main event, Oliveira called for a fight against Holloway with hopes that he could add the BMF championship to his resume. Holloway initially answered back with a meme saying “another one” — seemingly adding Oliveira’s name to the long list of callouts he’s received — but he eventually addressed “do Bronx” during a live stream on Kick.
“Charles performance? I didn’t watch it,” Holloway said. “I just got the clip of him calling me out. The only way to announce that is another one. Let’s go.”
“No, I’m not f*cking going to Rio. Fight in Las Vegas or something. We fight on my terms. We fight on my terms, brother. We went to Rio, we did that with the ‘King of Rio.’ Now it’s my turn to have a say.”
The “King of Rio” refers to Holloway traveling to Brazil where he defeated Jose Aldo to become featherweight champion back in 2017. Holloway eventually beat Aldo a second straight time when they met in a rematch six months later.
“When you fight the King of Rio in some place, you take his village, right?” Holloway said. “You guys might be looking at the King of Rio. Just saying. Check the receipts.”
Holloway also addressed his timeline to return to action while healing up from some nagging injuries after a victory over Dustin Poirier in July.
“We’re pretty close to fighting in March,” Holloway said. “It’s very possible. Pretty close but very possible for sure.”
For his part, Oliveira has no problem meeting Holloway’s request to take the fight somewhere other than Brazil, and he is also more than happy with the timing. The fight would actually be a rematch after Holloway defeated Oliveira in 2015 when the Brazilian suffered a strange injury that left him unable to continue less than two minutes into the opening round.
“His terms are the same as the UFC,” Oliveira said at the UFC Rio post-fight press conference. “It can be in his house. If it’s not in Brazil, it can be anywhere in the world. [March] is perfect, it’s a perfect fight. It would be awesome to see Hawaii.”
While Oliveira doesn’t seem to have a problem traveling to Hawaii for a fight, Holloway sadly knocked down that idea after getting bombarded with questions about finally having a UFC card in his home state.
“Hawaii ain’t never going to have a fight,” Holloway said. “You got to get over that. Chances of Hawaii having a fight with me on it is f*cking zero, boys. I’m sorry. I am so sorry but it is what it is. That’s just the honest truth.
“We don’t have a stadium to hold it and even if there is [going to be one], they have to start building now, which is going to take years, a couple of years and that’s not counting if they run into problems. So we’re cooked.”
It remains to be seen if Oliveira ends up as Holloway’s next opponent but he’s not opposed to the matchup.
More than anything, Holloway is anxious to get busy again with only one fight in 2025, which is another reason why he’s not enthusiastic about potentially taking a slot on the highly anticipated UFC White House card planned for June 14, 2026.
“The White House card is just so far away,” Holloway said. “It’s like a year, boys. I don’t know if I want to wait that long but we’ll see what happens.
“Never say never. It’s so far away. If we take that fight, it’s almost going to be a year I’m out of competition. If the fight happens on the White House card.”
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