Before perennial fan favourites Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira step into the cage to compete for the BMF Title this Saturday at UFC 326, mixed martial arts enthusiasts will be treated to a dozen other matchups, including a handful that could challenge the main event for the Fight of the Night bonus.
One of those tilts is the co-main event between middleweight contenders Caio Borralho and Reinier de Ridder.
Both 185-pounders are coming off losses that snapped lengthy winning streaks.
Borralho hadn’t lost since his second pro fight back in 2015, but he couldn’t get past the division’s No. 2 contender Nassourdine Imavov, losing a five-round unanimous decision in France in September. The 33-year-old from Brazil had gone 7-0 in the UFC from 2022 to 2024 before losing his lone 2025 appearance.
Meanwhile, de Ridder burst onto the UFC map late in 2024 and within 8.5 months had amassed a 4-0 record and was closing in on a title shot before losing an October Fight Night main event to Brendan Allen.
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De Ridder is not a small middleweight – he was a 205- and 225-pound ONE Championship titleholder before joining the UFC – so four training camps and four weight cuts in such a short period of time resulted in the 35-year-old Dutch fighter emptying his tank in his most recent fight and having his winning streak snapped.
De Ridder had a strong first round versus Allen, but then began experiencing extreme fatigue and was rendered completely ineffective for the remainder of the bout. Allen eventually won the fight when de Ridder’s corner would not allow him to fight beyond the fourth of five scheduled rounds.
The grappling specialist explained this week, when speaking with media in Las Vegas, that he was not at his best “on all levels” for that Allen matchup.
“My blood work, everything was in the trash," de Ridder explained. “Everything was bad, but mostly standing out – severe anemia, very, very red blood cell count. I worked my body to s--- basically.”
De Ridder is 21-3 with all three losses by KO/TKO and Borralho is a dangerous striker. Borralho is 17-2 and has never been finished, while 18 of de Ridder’s 21 wins have been via stoppage. Borralho is No. 7 and de Ridder No. 8 in the middleweight contender rankings entering the weekend.
Watch UFC 326 on Sportsnet+
Fan favourites and former champions Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira meet in a rematch with the BMF Title on the line. Watch UFC 326 on Saturday, March 7 with prelim coverage beginning 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, and pay-per-view main card starting at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.
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Here are some other storylines to follow at UFC 326…
Can Font establish the jab? If bantamweight stalwart Rob Font is going to bounce back from a September loss to David Martinez, it would greatly benefit him to utilize his reach advantage and establish his patented jab. The veteran 135-pounder, who spent much of his camp preparing at Montreal’s Tristar Gym, will need to keep things standing when he faces 21-year-old standout Raul Rosas Jr., who relies heavily on his grappling to find success.
Font, 38, broke down his jabbing technique and his upcoming matchup with Sportsnet’s Aaron Bronsteter earlier this week…
Garbrandt hopes to avoid another three-fight drought: The featured preliminary bout sees former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt take on China’s Xiao Long, who hasn’t faced anyone as accomplished as Garbrandt to date. Garbrandt, 34, is only 3-7 since his 11-0 run to the title and has lost two in a row over the past couple years. Garbrandt opened up about some recent health issues, such as vertigo, that were potentially a contributing factor to his struggles in recent years.
Knockouts or instant classics guaranteed? The two matchups set to kick off the main card should be serious contenders for both Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night. Brazilian middleweights Gregory Rodrigues and Brunno Ferreira, plus American lightweights Drew Dober and Michael Johnson, are rarely in forgettable fights and these two matchups, on paper, are guaranteed fireworks.
It’s surprising Dober and Johnson have yet to cross paths in the 155-pound division. Dober, 37, is 14-11 with one no-contest in the UFC since 2013. Johnson, 39, is 16-15 in the UFC since 2010. This is a southpaw vs. southpaw style match likely to take place entirely on the feet. Neither are strangers to knockout wins and both have trophy cases full of performance bonuses.
Rodrigues vs. Ferreira is a rematch of a 2023 bout that ended with Ferreira putting Rodrigues to sleep with a monster left hand. Rodrigues is 5-1 since the loss, ranked No. 13 in the division and also packs a punch, while Ferreira is 5-2 since the aforementioned win yet only ranked No. 15 and is the listed underdog despite his previous win over his compatriot. Both fighters throw heavy, knockout punches and aren’t known for having the most efficient defence or durability.
