Ryan Garcia has made it clear he has no intention of swapping boxing for MMA, and UFC 326 only reinforced that view.
The WBC Welterweight Champion reacted after watching Max Holloway’s main-event loss to Charles Oliveira in Las Vegas.
Garcia was clearly frustrated by the style of fight he saw, and he used it to explain exactly why the octagon holds no appeal for him.
Ryan Garcia says he will never leave boxing for MMA
Ryan Garcia on X made his feelings plain while discussing whether he would ever consider an MMA career.
“And no, I wouldn’t want to do MMA, some dude breathing down my neck on top of me for 25 min that don’t want to actually fight. I’m cool, you will never see me in the octagon. I’m sorry,” Garcia tweeted.
That reaction came after Garcia watched the UFC 326 main event, where Oliveira took control of Holloway over five rounds and won a unanimous decision through repeated grappling exchanges.
For Garcia, that kind of fight summed up exactly why he prefers boxing. He sees stand-up exchanges as the real draw, not long stretches of control on the mat.
So while crossover fights keep pulling in attention, Garcia’s stance sounds settled. He is staying in boxing.
Ryan Garcia was frustrated by Max Holloway vs Charles Oliveira
Garcia expanded on that frustration after watching Holloway spend much of the fight dealing with Oliveira’s ground game.
“Just like Turki called out boring boxing fights. I’m going to call this out, no one wants to see that, casual MMA fans like myself don’t want to see what I just had to endure for 25 minutes straight.
“That’s all the UFC is now, who can wrestle the best and control the ground. It’s boring,” Garcia stated.
Garcia’s anger makes more sense in the context of the result. Oliveira won all five rounds on the scorecards after repeatedly taking Holloway down and controlling the action, which left plenty of viewers complaining that the BMF title fight never really caught fire.
That does not mean the performance lacked quality. It means Garcia judged it through the lens of entertainment, and from that angle, he clearly thought the fight was a slog.
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