UFC 326 live results: Holloway vs. Oliveira 2 updates, round-by-round scoring for tonight’s card

Well, that’s lovely. Paramount crashed across the board and blacked out in the first half of the round. But the feed returned to Oliveira, once again back on top, dominating from half guard. He lands a slicing elbow. Holloway simply has no answers once on the ground. That’s about it. More dominance from the former lightweight king, who, mid-blackout, landed a nice knee to the dome of Holloway.

10-9 Oliveira. (30-25 Oliveira.)

Oliveira lands a nice teep. Holloway starts rattling off good jabs. The teeps remain from Oliveira, but he times a kick from Holloway to secure another takedown, this time up against the cage. They work from guard. Oliveira adjusts position and locks on somewhat of an arm-triangle rear-naked choke variation. It doesn’t seem too tight, as Oliveira sneaks back to the back of Holloway. The face crank gets reapplied by Oliveira. Stabbing elbows slice Holloway. They reposition while Oliveira holds the body triangle. Holloway is entirely conscious of the chokes, opening him to those nasty elbows. Oliveira locks on another neck crank! This one is tight! He escapes! Unreal. Oliveira holds from the back position, still sneaking in potential chokes. Holloway remains stuck in the position as time expires.

10-8 Oliveira. (20-16 Oliveira.)

Oliveira delivers a heavy pair of leg kicks out of the gate. Holloway launches a nice, quick combo. His strikes are on point early, but Oliveira blitzes! He catches Holloway with a big pair of rights and gets a sneaky body lock takedown, right into side control. Oliveira uses a knee on the belly to advance and land elbows, returning to side control after a float over attempt. Holloway rolls out to give up his back. He stands and Oliveira maintains a solid backpack position. He tightens a face crank! Holloway is in trouble! Holloway defends well, but Oliveira continues to squeeze. Oliveira punches methodically from a dominant position, trying to open up Holloway. Oliveira punches and elbows, seeking the submission. Holloway’s neck is becoming more exposed, but his defensive hand-fighting stays strong. Oliveira turns it into a neck crank! Holloway escapes. Holloway smiles and raises his brows to the camera. Incredible. What a round.

10-8 Oliveira.

Borralho continues his aggressive start with big punches. RDR gets caught in a weird level change slip. He gets up to immediately land a nice step knee. Borralho takes him down after, landing in half guard. RDR gets mounted, but quickly repositions to half guard. RDR does his best to annoy Borralho with punches to the side of the body. They scramble a bit, leading de Ridder into an odd side control-type position. De Ridder rolls to escape. He starts jabbing. Borralho lands a good right hand. RDR sneaks a left down the pipe with little power behind it. His jab remains solid, though. Borralho rips the body nicely. And another. RDR can’t seem to find the big shot, as he gets tagged by another right hook. He snaps off a nice body kick before time expires.

10-9 Borralho. (29-28 Borralho.)

Borralho cracks RDR with a right hand as soon as the round begins. RDR starts jabbing into the pocket before taking a hard outside leg kick. Borralho backs up RDR, catching him with a right against the fence. The leg kicks are adding up, as RDR does his best to circle. He gets a hold of Borralho, locking him around the body. A knee in tight lands to the body for RDR. Borralho is stuck against the cage. They break, and RDR gets to working his jab. He can’t quite find anything behind it. Borralho is starting to slow down, as he eats more jabs and leg kicks. A looping left hook lands for RDR. They tie up at the 10-second mark. No significant strikes land.

10-9 de Ridder. (19-19.)

Borralho rushes de Ridder with a long left. He jabs to the body. RDR starts kicking the legs. RDR slightly wobbles off balance from a punch exchange, but a right hand from Borralho grazes. Double knees to the nuts! Borralho seems to have gotten the worst of it, halting the action. Borralho takes 90 seconds, and the fight resumes. RDR presses the action. Borralho’s arms are totally down before a hard left lands. RDR lunges in with a wide left that connects clean. Borralho starts unloading heavy shots before a big counter stings RDR. Borralho absorbs some leg kicks before ripping a body shot off catching a kick. The first takedown comes from de Ridder, getting to Borralho’s back in a wall-walk position. Borralho starts taking knees to the back of the thighs. RDR holds a body lock from behind, eventually dragging Borralho down, but no damage occurs.

10-9 Borralho.

The “RDR” train unexpectedly crashed at UFC Vancouver in October against Brendan Allen, and I’m still not sure how much that result tells us.

Featuring arguably the two best jiu-jitsu players at 185 pounds, this matchup has all the makings of a great grappling contest. Of course, that means the ground action will likely cancel out, leaving us with an awkwardly fun, sloppy kickboxing match. In that case, Borralho has the advantage.

De Ridder’s primary attacks on the feet are his rangy step-in knees. If he gets hold of you, he’ll deliver them tight in the clinch or work his way into trips, regardless of the stylistic matchup. Borralho was somewhat exposed against a superior striker, Nassourdine Imavov, in his most recent fight, but his win over Jared Cannonier is still very telling of the Brazilian’s talent. His bread and butter is grappling, yet he battered Cannonier on the feet and nearly finished the one-time title challenger on multiple occasions.

Borralho has a tight enough boxing game that even if he absorbs knees from “RDR,” he should still find the chin. Ultimately, I just hope we get to see some sick scrambles and submission threats out of these two, but I’m not holding my breath.

Pick: Borralho