Charles Oliveira becoming the BMF champ and the specific manner in which he did it in the Max Holloway rematch has been a big part of the MMA discourse lately with Bryan Battle offering his thoughts on that UFC 326 bout. Battle prepares to clash with Johnny Eblen in the headline fight of PFL Pittsburgh on March 28th.<\/p>\n
Around the time of his UFC Paris fight, Battle did a media day talking about how people were saying he was looking like Charles Oliveira because of the blonde look he was rocking at the time. When asked for his thoughts on the recent BMF title fight between Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway, Battle said [via Bowks Talking Bouts<\/a>],<\/p>\n \u201cI think they need to adjust the BMF. Like the BMF fights should really only be kind of like shootouts, you know what I\u2019m saying? Like I don\u2019t think you should be able to win a BMF fight by decision. With that being said, I mean, Charles\u2019 performance was impeccable. Like it was a beautiful performance. He went out there and absolutely did his thing. Absolutely tactically on point, execution phenomenal. You know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut as far as like it being a BMF fight, like it is kind of one of those things [where] a BMF fight, based on its name and how it\u2019s presented, shouldn\u2019t be won by control. Like there should only be one person standing at the end of a BMF fight. So, yeah, it was straight. Like it\u2019s just like a regular fight, regular main event. It was still a really good main event, a high level [fight]. Like Charles is one of the best in the world and he showed it again. But as a BMF fight, it was kind of like meh.\u201d<\/p>\n A contest like that exists in its own unique pocket because outside of the BMF title being attached to it, that would have been received as a fine fight. When mentioning how observers have a specific idea of what a BMF title fight is supposed to look like, Battle stated [via Bowks Talking Bouts<\/a>],<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s how it\u2019s presented. You know what I\u2019m saying? Like I\u2019ll be honest, I think DBX [Dirty Boxing championship] made a post and it is kind of true. Like the DBX style is more leaning towards how the BMF is presented. Like the BMF is supposed to be bad mother f***er, not decision mother f***er, you know what I\u2019m saying? Like you said, you take the BMF belt out of that, it\u2019s an amazing fight. I don\u2019t think hardly anyone would complain.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I\u2019m sure people are still not thrilled about Charles like dominating in the way that he did. Because at the end of the day, that\u2019s really what it comes down. It was just really one-sided. Like Charles just kind of took him down and held him down and controlled him. So tactically, fight-wise that\u2019s exactly what he should do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut you know, with how the BMF belt is presented, it\u2019s kind of like all right, well what are we f***ing doing here? Like why? What\u2019s the point of even throwing a BMF belt on this? Cuz now you\u2019re setting these expectations. If they\u2019re not met, it f***ing puts a damper on the whole performance, which was still a great performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Charles Oliveira would not have received flack if he got the tap, says Battle<\/p>\n