Dana White revealed that the return of the BMF title was made official during some “war room sh*t” on a random Tuesday afternoon.
On July 29, the promotion will return to Salt Lake City for UFC 291, headlined by a long-awaited rematch between two of the most exciting fighters in the world, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje. If that weren’t enough, the promotion also announced that the main event clash will crown a brand new BMF champion.
The bragging rights belt was first introduced in 2019 as “bad motherf*cker” Nate Diaz met another “bad motherf*cker” named Jorge Masvidal in the main event of UFC 244 at Madison Square Garden. ‘Gamebred’ won the fight via a third-round doctor’s stoppage, becoming the promotion’s first-ever BMF champion. Unfortunately, Masvidal never seemed interested in defending the title, making the relatively meaningless belt seem even more meaningless. Dana White hopes to change that by putting it up for grabs in next month’s massive lightweight main event between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje.
Addressing the media following Saturday’s Fight Night card at The APEX, White discussed the return of the BMF belt and why Poirier vs. Gaethje II is the perfect opportunity to do so.
“Every Tuesday we’re in [the war room] and as we were putting that card together for Utah, we thought that Poirier and Gaethje is such an awesome fight,” White explained. “Masvidal retired so we put the BMF up. You have no idea how many of these fighters want to fight for the BMF title. They all want to fight for that belt. It’s fun, it’s different, so we’ll do it again.”
After claiming the belt in 2019, Jorge Masvidal never once defended the title. With ‘Gamebred’ recently retired, the BMF title will have a new lease on life, but White is still uncertain if the belt will be defended like a traditional UFC title.
“I don’t know,” White replied when asked if fans can expect to see the title up for grabs more often. “When you think about coming up with the first time, those were the two right guys and so are these. These are the two right guys for that too and whether that thing’s in play or not in play, that fight is what it is, but everybody wants that belt so what the hell.”
Dana White talks bringing back the BMF belt.#UFC pic.twitter.com/CjqWN61F7v
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) May 21, 2023
Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje Headlined a Stacked UFC 291 Card as Announced by Dana White
UFC 291 is shaping up to be one of the most impressive lineups of the year. Aside from the high-octane lightweight warfare that is sure to take place in the main event, fans will also see former middleweight champion Alex Pereira make his light heavyweight debut against former titleholder Jan Blachowicz.
Two fan favorites will collide in the lightweight division as Tony Ferguson looks to have his hand raised for the first time in four years as he meets ‘King’ Bobby Green. No. 5 ranked middleweight contender Paul Costa returns to take on streaking Russian standout Ikram Aliskerov and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson meets the always-entertaining Michele Pereira.
The card will also feature the returns of heavyweight juggernaut Derrick Lewis, Michael Chiesa, and Kevin Holland. It all goes down on July 29 exclusively on ESPN+ pay-per-view in the United States.
