Well, the UFC’s grand return to network television certainly gave us a lot to talk about, even if it wasn’t exactly what the promotion had drawn up on the whiteboard.
UFC 326 went down last night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, officially launching the highly anticipated CBS and Paramount+ broadcast era. From a pure numbers standpoint, the executives have to be thrilled. The broadcast reportedly peaked at over 3.1 million viewers right in the middle of the main card. But from a fight fan’s perspective—and especially from a bettor’s perspective—the night was a wildly unpredictable mix of breathtaking knockouts, bizarre referee decisions, and one of the most anti-climactic “BMF” title fights in promotional history.
Let’s unpack everything that happened in Vegas, review the official UFC 326 results, and look at how our betting slips held up against the chaos.
The Main Event: Oliveira Claims the “BMF” Title in a Grappling Grind
Let’s just rip the band-aid off right now. Charles Oliveira defeated Max Holloway via unanimous decision (50-45 across all three scorecards) to capture the symbolic BMF championship. But if you were expecting a blood-and-guts war worthy of that specific belt, you were left staring at the screen in disbelief.
From the opening bell, Oliveira had absolutely zero intention of engaging in a kickboxing match with the Hawaiian volume king. “Do Bronx” utilized his sheer aggression to chain together takedowns, dragging Holloway to the mat and trapping him in suffocating control positions for the vast majority of the 25-minute affair. While Holloway’s defensive grappling was technically sound enough to survive multiple rear-naked choke and face-crank setups, he simply could not get off his back.
Instead of hunting for the finish, Oliveira seemed perfectly content to sit in half-guard or secure a body triangle, dropping short elbows and burning time off the clock. By the championship rounds, the Las Vegas crowd was showering the cage with boos, and fans were actively leaving the arena before the final horn even sounded. It was a masterclass in positional control by Oliveira, but it was the exact opposite of a “Baddest Motherf*cker” performance. If you took our advice to bet the “Fight Does Not Go The Distance” prop, you unfortunately got burned by the Brazilian’s sudden pivot to a safe, point-fighting grappling strategy.
The Co-Main: Borralho Solves the Dutch Riddle
While the main event was a grind, the co-main event played out exactly as we predicted in our parlay guide. Caio Borralho secured a unanimous decision victory (30-27 x3) over former ONE Championship double-champ Reinier de Ridder.
Borralho showed exactly why he is one of the safest anchor legs in the sport right now. De Ridder desperately tried to get the fight to the floor, chain-wrestling and looking for body locks against the fence. Borralho remained brilliantly composed, stuffing the takedowns, framing off, and punishing the Dutchman with clean, heavy left hands. By the third round, de Ridder was visibly exhausted, and Borralho cruised to a highly technical, low-risk victory. If you used Borralho as the foundation of your parlays yesterday, he delivered perfectly.
The Knockouts: Dober Makes History, “Robocop” Gets Revenge
If the top of the card was a grappling-heavy slog, the middle of the main card was pure, unadulterated violence.
First, I have to eat a little bit of crow. In our deep-dive breakdown, I predicted that Michael Johnson’s footwork and veteran jab would out-point Drew Dober. For the first round, that was exactly what was happening. Johnson looked incredibly sharp, tagging Dober and avoiding the big power shots. But MMA is a game of inches, and in the second round, Dober finally found the target. He planted a picturesque, devastating left hand directly on Johnson’s jaw, shutting his lights out instantly at the 1:53 mark. With that brutal finish, Dober secured his 11th lightweight knockout, officially breaking the UFC divisional record.
Just minutes before that, Gregory “Robocop” Rodrigues exacted his revenge against Brunno Ferreira. We heavily recommended taking the “Under 1.5 Rounds” for this middleweight firefight, and it cashed effortlessly. Rodrigues didn’t let his ego drag him into a sloppy brawl this time. He found his range early and detonated a massive right hand that sent Ferreira crashing to the canvas just 1:47 into the very first round. It was clean, clinical, and violently beautiful.
The Prospect Arrives: Rosas Jr. Dominates Font
The changing of the guard at bantamweight is officially underway. 21-year-old Raul Rosas Jr. dominated 38-year-old veteran Rob Font, sweeping the scorecards (30-27 x3) in a classic grappler-versus-striker matchup.
Font tried to establish his legendary jab early, but Rosas Jr. simply refused to give him space. The youngster utilized his relentless chain wrestling to put Font on his back repeatedly. While Font showed great veteran savvy to survive the early submission scares, he spent the better part of fifteen minutes carrying Rosas’s weight and fighting off back-takes. It wasn’t the submission finish the oddsmakers were leaning toward, but it was a completely dominant showing that officially solidifies Rosas Jr. as a top-tier contender at 135 pounds.
The Prelim Disaster: Garbrandt vs. Xiao Long
We have to talk about the featured prelim, because it was arguably one of the most bizarre fights in UFC history. Cody Garbrandt won a unanimous decision (28-27 x3) over Xiao Long, but the scorecards don’t even begin to tell the story of this absolute mess.
Xiao Long effectively lost this fight via self-sabotage. The Chinese fighter battered Garbrandt’s lead leg effectively, but he also managed to kick Garbrandt squarely in the groin multiple times. It got so bad that referee Herb Dean deducted two full points from Xiao in the third round. To make matters completely surreal, the foul caused Garbrandt to legitimately vomit in a bucket inside the cage—a situation that, by the unified rules, should have resulted in a medical stoppage. Instead, Dean let the fight continue. A compromised Garbrandt managed to survive to the final bell to take the nod on the cards. It was a chaotic, ugly introduction for any new fans tuning in early on the CBS network.
UFC 326 Final Betting Recap
If you were following our picks over at Main Card Money, it was a night of mixed emotions. We nailed the Caio Borralho anchor leg, perfectly predicted the Gregory Rodrigues first-round knockout, and cashed big on the Under 1.5 rounds in the middleweight opener.
However, Charles Oliveira deciding to turn into a conservative blanket completely busted our main event totals, and Drew Dober’s historic left hand blew up our Michael Johnson value play. Such is the nature of the fight game.
The UFC will keep rolling, and so will we. We will be back next week to break down the opening lines for the next card, hunt down the best sportsbook promos, and get our bankrolls back into the green.
