UFC President Dana White believes the rematch between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje in the main event of July’s UFC 291 card is a perfect representation for what the BMF title stands for.
White announced the matchup on Tuesday for the promotion’s return to Salt Lake City on July 29, and says the idea to put the gimmick title up for grabs took place during a recent matchmaking meeting.
“[It was] war room s***,” White told reporters at the UFC Vegas 73 post-fight press conference. “Every Tuesday we’re in there, and as we were putting that card together for Utah, we thought that Poirier and Gaethje is such an awesome fight. Masvidal retired, so we put the BMF [title on the line].”
The one and only time the BMF belt was on the line was for the UFC 244 main event between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz in November 2019 — a fight that Masvidal won via doctor’s stoppage TKO at Madison Square Garden.
Since “Gamebred” is now retired from competition, the belt gets back into the limelight. Whether or not this will be another rarity, or a regular thing for the title to be a featured prize for the promotion remains to be seen.
“You have no idea how many of these fighters want to fight for the BMF title,” White explained. “They all want to fight for that belt. It’s fun, it’s different, so we’ll do it again.
“When you think about doing it in the first place, [Masvidal and Diaz] were the two right guys, and so are these — these are the two right guys [for the second BMF title fight]. Whether that thing is in play, or not in play, that fight is what it is. Everybody wants that belt, so what the hell?”