The UFC confirmed on Friday (5) that the Brazilian will face Max Holloway for the so-called “BMF Belt” on March 7.
After some speculation. Charles Du Bronx already knows when his next fight will be. The UFC confirmed on Friday (5) that the Brazilian will face Max Holloway for the so-called “BMF Belt” on March 7 in Las Vegas at UFC 326.
The duel will be the main fight of this card, the third of 2026 and also from the “Paramount era”, as the company holds the broadcast rights to Ultimate events from next year. This will be the third time the Brazilians have competed for the belts, with Amanda Nunes (at UFC 324, vs. Kayla Harrison) and Diego Lopez (vs. Alexander Volkanovski, at UFC 325) also seeking the titles.
The rivalry between Charles and Holloway is old and dates back to the time when both were still featherweights. In 2015, the Brazilian and the Hawaiian faced each other and an injury sustained by the Brazilian just over a minute and a half into the fight led to the duel being stopped, with the win being awarded to “Blessed”.
Since then, both men’s paths have moved to the lightweight division, where the Brazilian has dominated and the Hawaiian has become the owner of the under 66kg category. Now, they will have the opportunity to have a rematch, now worthy of the belt that was created to reward what is considered the greatest “thick-skinned” in the UFC.
Holloway is coming off a win over Dustin Poirier in July of this year, making his first defense of the ‘BMF Belt’, which he won at UFC 300, by defeating Justin Gaethje. Before this last confrontation, he struggled to try to regain the featherweight belt, but was defeated by Ilya Topuria, in October 2024.
Charles Du Bronx also has a win, this was in Rio de Janeiro over Matthews Jamrot, last October. Chute Boxe star Diego Lima also faces Topuria as a recent contender, having recently been beaten by the Georgian, this time for the vacant lightweight belt in June, also in Las Vegas.
There had been speculation, largely due to a post from one of the UFC’s social media accounts, that a fight between Charles and “Blessed” would take place in January, but the post has been deleted. Later, in a video posted on his networks, the Brazilian indicated that the fight should happen “sooner or later”, which was confirmed on Friday;