At the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, Charles Oliveira methodically controlled Max Holloway across five rounds to claim the BMF title at UFC 326.
According to sources, judges were unanimous in their verdict, scoring the lightweight main event 50-45 in favor of Oliveira. His persistent grappling and takedown ability left Holloway with little room to operate throughout the evening.
But it was the commentary booth exchange, which led to major reaction across social media.
As the T-Mobile Arena crowd began to express its displeasure late in the fourth round, frustrated by Oliveira’s wrestling-heavy approach, veteran UFC commentator Joe Rogan made his position clear for everyone watching at home.
“Listen to these casuals booing,” Rogan said during the live UFC 326 broadcast. “How do you not appreciate this complete domination by a master?”
For a significant portion of the audience, both inside the arena and watching from home, it came across as a dismissal of fans who simply expected something different from a BMF title contest.
The response on X was swift. “Rogan can be p**** all he wants. There is a specific type of fighter that should be in BMF title matches and it’s certainly not Oliveira,” one user wrote.
Another talked about where the sport currently stands: “Casuals? The sport fell off Joe. Wake up to reality.”
Others zeroed in on Rogan’s commentary as an example of elitism overtaking common sense. “Rogan calling fans ‘casuals’ for booing that snoozefest is peak gatekeeping,” one fan wrote. “BMF title matches should be absolute wars with finishes, not 15 minutes of Oliveira laying on Holloway. We want violence and entertainment, not a grappling clinic. Crowd knows better than the booth sometimes, Joe.”
The evening’s frustrations were not limited to what happened inside the octagon. Viewers tuning in through Paramount+ encountered a separate technical problem when the live broadcast cut to a black screen with no audio between the second and third rounds.
Coverage eventually returned with about three minutes left in round three, leaving those at home without roughly two minutes of the action.
The response was immediate. “No f**king chance @UFC went down on Paramount,” one fan wrote. “All these years watching thru second hand sites and now it’s on a platform I can watch without PPV and it crashes? No shot.”
