Every week, I put out a Mailbag prompt on The Feed, and this week, but over the past few weeks, there’s been a question in there that I decided to break out into its own thing, because I don’t want the Mailbag to be 4,000 words. This is one of those.
If there was a BMF title fight 185-265 who are you putting in the fight? Current roster of course.
Sir, there is already a prestigious belt for this weight range, called the middleweighty middleweight championship!
All jokes aside, this past weekend, Charles Oliveira became the fourth BMF champion after he dominated Max Holloway at UFC 326. But while the performance was dominant, the overall lack of damage and the high-controlling style left Oliveira’s win feeling less like a BMF and more like a regular, great win. The fanbase certainly felt that way, which raises the possibility (likelihood?) that Oliveira is not going to be defending the ceremonial title any time soon.
And you know what? That’s OK! The BMF belt started as a 170-pound title, but then got recreated at 155 pounds after a brief hiatus, and it might be time for that same thing to happen again. After all, after Ilia Topuria defends his lightweight title against Justin Gaethje at UFC White House, it’s incredibly likely that he’ll move up again, leaving a vacant belt at 155 pounds that Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan can rematch for. So, it’s time for the BMF title to move on to another weight class that needs it.
But before we can decide where the BMF belt should go, first we need to establish what it is. While some people suggest establishing rules for the BMF title, I’m not entirely sure that’s necessary. When Nate Diaz invented the title in 2019, he didn’t pen a charter to go along with it. Even back then, the belt was always about vibes, and it would be an insult to Diaz to turn his title into something like that.
No, the BMF belt is not really about any one thing other than dude’s who the fans love and who also scrap. It’s basically a Legend belt, with a little bit of Action Hero tossed into it. So, let’s take a look at who might fit the bill in the various other weight classes, and work backward from there. We can start with the three heaviest divisions, since that’s what the original question asked about.
Heavyweight is one of the worst divisions in MMA right now; however, there are actually two names who sort of fit the traditional BMF profile: Derrick Lewis and Tai Tuivasa. Both men are fan favorite fighters, neither is in real title contention, and both are known for putting on a show. If you had to do a BMF belt at heavyweight, this rematch would be the one to go with. But honestly, let’s not.
Moving to 205, Alex Pereira is the most obvious BMF choice, but he’s also currently set to fight for the interim heavyweight belt, so that disqualifies him. Same for Jiri Prochazka, who is lined up for a vacant light heavyweight title fight. Looking at the roster, the only other fighter who seems to qualify would be Jan Blachowicz, but even that’s probably stretching it. Maybe Johnny Walker, I guess?
Down at middleweight, this is where we get the first solid options. Both Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker are beloved fighters who aren’t in the title hunt anymore, and you could maybe even throw in someone like Jared Cannonier if you were really reaching. Let’s put a pin in these two.
At 170 pounds, Stephen Thompson and Rafael dos Anjos are both still on the roster and might fit the bill, but you also have Kevin Holland, who spiritually seems like the most BMF fighter thus far. Not to mention the upcoming Kelvin Gastelum vs. Vicente Luque fight that you could simply throw a BMF belt on, and it wouldn’t be that crazy.
Lightweight, obviously, is the weight class we were just in with the title, but I still wanted to throw a special shoutout to King Green, who is basically the same guy Jorge Masvidal was; he just never got to knee Ben Askren in the face and become super famous. Also, loath as I may be to admit it, but Michael Chandler meets the qualifications, and Dan Hooker also fits. Man, lightweight is so fun. Oh, and Brian Ortega is moving up. Frankly, it wouldn’t shock me if the UFC kept the belt here.
At 145 pounds, the upcoming Cub Swanson vs. Nate Landwehr fight is BMF adjacent, plus Patricio Pitbull is mulling about. So there are a few names.
Less so at bantamweight, where Chito Vera kind of fits, except he hasn’t won a fight in a lifetime, it feels like. Same for Deiveson Figueiredo.
And at flyweight, there’s no one on offer.
Turning to the women’s divisions, the pickings are slim. Women’s MMA is in a real down period right now, and honestly, the truest women’s BMF fight in the sport right now is probably the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano Netflix fight. But if you had to do it in the UFC, the best option is probably Miesha Tate vs. Rose Namajunas or Jessica Andrade. Or I guess you could do a trilogy between Namajunas and Andrade at 125 pounds, too.
Actually, as I’m reasoning through this, that may be the best option. Think about it: sure, an Adesanya vs. Holland matchup does sort of fit the criteria, but both men are booked (Adesanya vs. Joe Pyfer, Holland vs. Randy Brown), and Adesanya does have a fairly robust history of underwhelming fights. The fight might end up being terrible, which would be disastrous given UFC 326.
But Namajunas vs. Andrade 3? Now that’s a heater. Namajunas and Andrade split wins at 115 pounds, with both fights taking home Fight of the Night honors, and a third seems likely to yield something similar. Plus, spiritually, both women fit the profile of BMFs — out of contention, well-respected, usually exciting, and have jumped around weight classes in their careers.
But perhaps most importantly, Namajunas vs. Andrade 3 is a big fight in women’s MMA, which desperately needs something to get people interested again. The UFC did its best to get Namajunas into a title fight with Valentina Shevchenko, but she just can’t quite make that happen. So, instead, let’s do the next best thing.
It’s time for a women’s BMF champion.
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