Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira (37-11-0-1 MMA, 25-11-0-1 UFC) will put his BMF belt on the line vs Diego Lopes in the UFC 335 headliner on Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Oliveira won the BMF strap away from Max Holloway via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) in the UFC 326 main event back in March. The 36-year-old Brazilian has won back-to-back scraps since losing a title shot against Ilia Topuria in June of 2025, including a second-round submission victory over Mateusz Gamrot in October of 2025.

Lopes (28-8 MMA, 7-3 UFC) will be making his 155-pound debut after losing a pair of unanimous decisions in featherweight title shots vs. Alexander Volkanovski. The 31-year-old Lopes is off a second-round knockout win over Steve Garcia at the White House in June.

As of early Thursday afternoon (10/8/26), Caesars had Oliveira installed as a -190 favorite, leaving Lopes with +145 underdog odds. However, BetRivers had ‘Do Bronx’ as a -155 ‘chalk’ vs. Lopes, who was +123 on the comeback.

The co-main event will be a heavyweight clash scheduled for five rounds, but I don’t expect this bout to need the judges. Alex Pereira (13-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) will take on Sergei Pavlovich in his second Octagon appearance as a heavyweight.

The 39-year-old Pereira is the former UFC middleweight champion and the two-time ex-UFC light heavyweight kingpin. He wants to become the promotion’s first three-division champion.

Pereira made his heavyweight debut at the White House, but he was knocked out by Ciryl Gane at the 1:27 mark of Round 2. However, the defeat was not without controversy.

Gane laned multiple punches and an elbow to the back of Pereira’s head. It was clear in real time that the shots were illegal, but referee Herb Dean let them go.

Whatever the case, Pereira is staying at heavyweight.

The 34-year-old Pavlovich (21-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) lost his UFC debut to Alistair Overeem via first-round KO back in 2018. The Russian bounced back to win six fights in a row by first-round KOs.

That surge earned him a shot at the interim heavyweight title vs. Tom Aspinall, who needed only 69 seconds to earn a first-round KO win at UFC 295 at MSG in NYC on Nov. 11 of 2023. Pavlovich then lost a UD to Alexander Volkov, but he’s bounced back with three wins in a row going into this spot.

As of Thursday afternoon, Caesars had Pavlovich as a -170 favorite with Pereira as a +135 underdog. BetRivers had Pavlovich as a -150 ‘chalk,’ leaving Pereira at +120.

In a middleweight showdown, 12th-ranked Bo Nickal will finally step up in class to face a ranked opponent. The former Penn St. wrestler will square off against fourth-ranked Joe Pyfer, who is off a second-round KO win over former 185-pound champ Israel Adesanya.

Pyfer (16-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) has ripped off a four-fight winning streak and has won nine of his last 10 scraps. ‘Bodybagz,’ a 30-year-old native of New Jersey, has bagged five Performance of the Night bonuses during his UFC tenure.

The 30-year-old Nickal (9-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) won his first four UFC bouts before losing to Reinier de Ridder by second-round TKO at UFC Des Moines on May 3 of 2025. Since then, he’s responded with a second-round KO win (headkick) over Rodolfo Vieira at UFC 322 and a first-round KO victory over Kyle Daukas at the White House.

As of Thursday afternoon, BetRivers had Pyfer listed as a -157 favorite with Nickal as a +125 underdog.