Former featherweight champion and BMF titleholder Max Holloway is in the homestretch of his UFC 326 training camp. “Blessed” takes on former lightweight titleholder Charles Oliveira in a rematch with the symbolic BMF belt on the line.
The two first fought at UFC Fight Night 74 in August 2015 in a featherweight bout. Holloway defeated the Brazilian via TKO due to an esophagus injury in the first round. The two legends will run it back more than a decade later and Holloway’s striking coach, Ivan Flores, believes his fighter is ahead of schedule in training camp.
“There’s something special about Max. Every week we’re getting better. Every week he’s showing massive improvements. But again, where we’re at right now, I mean, I feel really good. 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,” Flores said on Holloway’s YouTube channel.
“I’m happy with where he’s at physically. I’m happy with where things are going with the game plan. I’m happy with his health, his recovery. Everything is looking really good. There’s something different about that man.”
Holloway too is happy with his UFC 326 training camp thus far. He expects the hard work in preparation to lead to victory at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but respects the danger Oliveira brings to the octagon.
“Oliveira, he’s just a killer. I mean, everybody knows his jiu-jitsu, but his striking has come a long way. And if you see most of his finishes, a lot of the times it’s not Hail Mary submissions that he’s finishing people. He’s hurting them on the feet, rocking them and then getting a submission. At the end of the day, he’s a real mixed martial artist,” Holloway said.
“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. “Camp is going good. We feel good. We feel top shape four weeks out.”
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