UFC 326 is just days away, and though a highly anticipated rematch between Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira headlines the show, the rest of the lineup has drawn criticism for a lack of stake and depths.
One prominent voice taking aim at Saturday’s bout list is veteran commentator Dan Hardy, who questioned whether the lineup was worth purchasing on pay-per-view. While viewers in the U.S. are currently enjoying the benefits of the UFC’s new broadcasting partnership with Paramount+, and no longer have
to worry about paying for PPVs, the same isn’t true for many other markets.
“It definitely doesn’t look like a pay-per-view card, absolutely,” Hardy told Submission Radio. “I think there’s some fun fights on it. For me, I think the most interesting one, the most probably well-balanced and well-matched one is the Drew Dober-[Michael] Johnson fight. As soon as I saw that, I thought to myself that is just a fireworks fight because they both take a lot of chances and sometimes make bad decisions and that could backfire. But for me, that’s a really interesting matchup.
“Some of the other ones, I’m interested to watch it, but it’s an odd one for a pay-per-view. Really interesting. And a couple of fights where, like, Rob Font finds himself in that situation again where he’s holding off another one of the young ones and kind of playing the gatekeeper role again. I don’t know, it’s an interesting card. I’ll be watching, of course, but I won’t be quite as pay-per-view excited as normal.”
Holloway defends his “BMF” title against Oliveira in Saturday’s main event, but no undisputed UFC titles are on the line this weekend. The co-main event features top 10 middleweight contenders Caio Borralho and Reinier de Ridder, both coming off of losses, and the main card is lacking in star power despite intriguing matchups featuring Rob Font vs. Raul Rosas Jr., Drew Dober vs. Michael Johnson, and a rematch between Gregory Rodrigues and Brunno Ferreira.
Then again, the mileage of the word “intriguing” may vary depending on your tastes, and Hardy isn’t exactly sure what the purpose of some of these fights are.
“The other one that stood out to me, the first middleweight fight on the main card,” Hardy said. “Didn’t Brunno knock out Gregory Rodrigues? Did he not just dead him with a left hand? That’s a rematch, I’m sure it is. … I remember Brunno Ferreira being backed up against the fence and he kind of—I’m playing it my head, I might be wrong—but I feel like Rodrigues steps in, and he just pings him with a left hand and drops him back dead.
“That seems like an odd one to run back to me, to be honest.”
With the UFC having recently signed a $7.7 billion deal with Paramount to bolster the media giant’s Paramount+ subscription streaming service, there’s less pressure than ever for the UFC to deliver must-see lineups as profits are all but guaranteed for at least the next seven years so long as the promotion continues to put on shows. UFC 326 is an example of the “one-fight” card that could become more frequent in the coming years.
Still, if a fan is shelling out hard-earned cash for one fight, they could certainly do worse than Holloway vs. Oliveira 2, which Hardy is fascinated to watch after the fighters’ first meeting in 2015 was halted early due to an injury.
“I don’t even think Charles Oliveira is the same person psychologically as he was in that fight,” Hardy said. “There was something, and I’m a big fan of Charles Oliveira, but he’s never been the force that he is at lightweight. When he was at featherweight, there was something kind of flimsy and brittle about him. That was my memory of that fight. Nothing massively significant happened, and I feel like they were both very young versions of themselves.”
TOP STORIES
Opinion. Jed Meshew makes the case for why Sean Strickland is the logical choice to challenge Khamzat Chimaev.
Chaos. ICYMI, Arman Tsarukyan ran wild at RAF 6, attacking Georgio Poullas after their wrestling match and sparking a wild brawl.
Star. Lone’er Kavanagh pulled off an impressive upset of Brandon Moreno in the UFC Mexico main event.
Callout. Aljamain Sterling goes on epic rant on why he should be next to fight Alexander Volkanovski.
Unity. Terence Crawford implores fighters to band together to maximize salaries.
Sure. Jon Jones claims UFC White House talks are still happening.
VIDEO STEW
UFC Mexico (and Arman incident!) post-fight show.
The incident.
RAF 6 post-fight coverage.
Clash of the titans.
José Youngs talks Anything but Fighting with Ricky Turcios.
UFC 326 Countdown.
Liverpool lads in Las Vegas.
FLAVOR IN YOUR EAR
On to The Next One. Alexander K. Lee and very special guest Jed Meshew figure out what’s next for flyweight disruptor Lone’er Kavanagh and the rest of UFC Mexico’s big winners.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
This ruled!
Listen up.
Logic.
Sean Strickland sparring Maxx Crosby in 2023.
Facts.
Robbed.
Six weeks sprawl training, this kid could be a UFC champion…
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Jorge Masvidal vs. Shara Bullet (submission-only grappling); Hype Fighting Championship, March 11
Jiri Prochazka (32-5-1) vs. Carlos Ulberg (17-1); UFC 327, April 11
Beneil Dariush (23-7-1) vs. Manuel Torres (17-3); UFC 327, April 11
Patricio Pitbull (37-8) vs. Aaron Pico (13-5); UFC 327, April 11
Mateusz Gamrot (25-4, 1 NC) vs. Esteban Ribovics (15-2); UFC 327, April 11
Kelvin Gastelum (20-10, 1 NC) vs. Vicente Luque (23-12-1); UFC 327, April 11
Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili 2 (wrestling); RAF 8, April 18
Jack Della Maddalena (18-3) vs. Carlos Prates (23-7); UFC Perth, May 2
Oleksandr Usyk vs. Rico Verhoeven (boxing); Glory in Giza, May 23
FINAL THOUGHTS
Jose Medina, we salute you.
EXIT POLL
If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Facebook.
