Jake’s Takes | why are the UFC bringing back the BMF title now?

Despite Dana White’s insistence that the UFC doesn’t ‘do gimmick fights’, they’ve recently announced the reintroduction of a symbolic belt that screams of gimmick. That, of course, is the BMF (baddest motherfucker) championship. UFC 291 is set to be headlined by a five-round lightweight bout between former interim lightweight champions Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, where the winner will be presented with the BMF belt.

In order to understand why the title is being brought back now, we must first understand where it began.

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The story gets underway with the return of Nate Diaz in 2019. After three years on the sidelines following a pair of blockbuster bouts with Conor McGregor, the Stockton native got back to action against Anthony Pettis at UFC 241. Diaz emerged triumphant with a unanimous decision win, breaking into the welterweight rankings in the process. He immediately called for his next bout to be with Jorge Masvidal, who had recently broken into mainstream superstardom with his legendary knockout of Ben Askren. He phrased his demand as “defend[ing] this belt”, which he later explained to be the title of ‘baddest motherfucker in the game.’

UFC brass was initially reluctant to book the fight, but fan interest swayed their decision. The bout was slated as the main event of UFC 244 in Madison Square Garden. Dana White revealed at a pre-fight press conference that the ‘baddest motherfucker’ title would not just be an honourary distinction for the winner, but a physical belt would be presented. Reception from fans was mixed, with some commending the effort that was being put into celebrating the accomplishments of two veterans. Others critsised the decision to create a belt that wasn’t a world title.

The belt was unveiled the day prior to the fight, with the phrase ‘one of one’ inscribed on the side. This assured doubting fans that the BMF title would not made another appearance after UFC 244 – I’m sure this will not age poorly whatsoever. Former professional wrestler Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson was to present the title to the winner of the bout, while sitting US president Donald Trump attended, further adding to the peculiarity of the event.

The bout would end with a somewhat anticlimactic doctor stoppage loss for Diaz, who sustained a cut over his right eye. Masvidal was crowned the BMF champion, capping off the most successful year of his career. The three-fight win-streak and mass amounts of media attention given to Masvidal made him a lock for a shot at the welterweight title, despite his desire to rematch Diaz and end the fight in more decisive fashion.

Masvidal would go on to lose his next four bouts before retiring in April of this year. The BMF title, as suggested by the ‘one of one’ descriptor, was not transfered to champion Kamaru Usman, the first man to beat Masvidal after his win-streak. Instead, it remained as a point of promotion for the Miami fighter and was the belt itself was occasionally worn by Masvidal during press conferences.

Once his retirement was made official, it seemed that the BMF championship would die with Masvidal. As the headline of this article implies, however, the title has been resurrected by UFC officials. “Since Jorge Masvidal retired,” explained Dana White, “the BMF title is back up for grabs […] former champion Dustin Poirier takes on another former champion in Justin Gaethje for the vacant BMF title [in a fight] between two of the baddest dudes in the game.”

This brings us to today, less than two months out from the rematch between Poirier and Gaethje. Fan reception to the bout’s announcement has been largely positive, but has been somewhat soured by the addition of the BMF title. It makes me posit the question once again – why is the UFC bringing this belt back now?

To me, this seems like another example of the UFC using an illegitemate title to sell a pay-per-view card. Similar acts can be seen in their incessant use of interim belts in an attempt to add prestige to bouts. In my opinion, the BMF title is nothing more than a slightly glorified interim title. Looking back at the Masvidal/Diaz bout, it’s clear to me that the promotion wanted to use that matchup as a title eliminator for the winner of Usman/Covington. Instead of following the standard route of attaching an interim title to the fight, White decided to cash in on Diaz’ and Masvidal’s respective levels of popularity by acknowledging the ‘baddest motherfucker’ championship as a real title. The ‘one of one’ status that made the title impossible to lose meant that the winner could eternally be promoted as the BMF champion.

Now, we’re seeing a similar story play out with Poirier and Gaethje. Both men have challenged for titles multiple times in the last four years, but have come up short; they need one more win before being considered for world title contention. Considering that both men are also highly-respected veterans with reputations for being action-fighters, much like Masvidal and Diaz had, it makes all the sense in the world – for the UFC – to revive the BMF title for such an occasion. An interim belt would make very little sense in this context, seeing as Islam Makhachev is not inactive and Charles Oliveira vs Beneil Dariush is already serving as a de facto title eliminator. When all of these factors are mixed together in the ‘War Room’ cauldron, you end up with a vacant BMF championship pay-per-view main event.

I don’t really have a gripe with the belt, though I’d much prefer if the UFC would just call a spade a spade – it’s a ticket to title contention for fan favourite contenders that are not quite in line for a crack at the world championship. A little bit of pagentry only adds to the spectacle, in my opinion. My issue lies with the nature of how the title is handled. The ‘one of one’ idea wasn’t a poor one; I would’ve prefered to see it as a title that could be won and lost, but if it was just a one-time deal, I could suck it up. Now, however, it has proven to be more than a once-off gimmick. If that’s the case, why isn’t Leon Edwards the current BMF champion? Kamaru Usman beat Masvidal twice, then Edwards beat Usman twice. It doesn’t take a genius to work out the lineage.

I’d prefer to see the title abolished completely but, if Dana White is insisting on making this a regular fixture on the UFC calendar, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a little bit of consistency in its usage.

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Do you agree with my opinions on the BMF title? Where do you stand on this issue? Let us know in the comments below!