Dana White has always made a point of being against gimmicks in the UFC.
He’s criticized boxing promotions for making “gimmicky” fights, and infamously refused to re-sign heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou to the UFC when the fighter asked for a contract that would permit him to box between UFC fights.
Yet, the UFC owns perhaps the biggest gimmick in all of combat sports: the “Baddest Mother F—” belt.
The BMF belt is the UFC’s method of recognizing the sport’s most violent fighters and it was quite the spectacle at UFC 244 when it was introduced.
Nate Diaz took on Jorge Masvidal for the inaugural BMF title fight, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson walking out with the belt and wrapping it around the winner’s waist.
Masvidal won by doctor stoppage and became the UFC’s first “Baddest MF.”
Yet, the BMF belt was pushed aside as Masvidal’s next two fights were for the welterweight title.
He lost both, then faced Colby Covington and Gilbert Burns in non-title fights without mention of the BMF belt.
Four months after the fight with Burns, the BMF belt was finally on the table again.
This time, it was lightweights Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje competing for the belt at UFC 291. The two are definitely candidates for Baddest MF, but the choice to assign the BMF title to the fight felt arbitrary.
In reality, UFC 291 lacked a title fight, a rarity for modern pay-per-views, and the BMF title filled that gap.
Gaethje won by knockout in the second round and became the second holder of the title.
Then, he had the opportunity to defend the BMF belt at UFC 300 against Max Holloway, which provided the belt with some legitimacy.
However, after Holloway’s last-second knockout victory over Gaethje, he fought Ilia Topuria for the featherweight title without putting the BMF belt on the line.
Topuria made a point of the title’s illegitimacy during their fight buildup, buying his own replica belt and proclaiming himself the new BMF after defeating Holloway.
After Topuria’s win, the BMF belt was left in a weird spot. Holloway is still the title-holder, but it’s hard not to see Topuria as the current BMF.
Had the belt been on the line in every fight since its inception, welterweight champion Belal Muhammad would currently hold the title.
The BMF belt is a great idea, but the UFC has damaged its legitimacy by allowing fighters to fight without defending it.
In my opinion, the UFC should ditch the physical belt. It makes it more difficult to justify not putting it on the line for every fight when Holloway can still flaunt the belt.
Scrapping the belt would also allow the UFC to reward fighters in all weight classes and at any position in the rankings.
At lightweight, for example, where the belt currently resides, Mauricio Ruffy looks like one of the division’s most exciting and dangerous fighters, but without a ranked win, a matchup with the fourth-ranked Holloway would make little sense.
Instead, the UFC could introduce a BMF designation, much like its Fight of the Night honor, to draw attention to any matchup that promises violence and excitement throughout.
Dana White’s “If You Don’t Know, Now You Know” is similar, but there’s no reward for the fighters.
Keep the same format, alerting fans to high-action fights and fighters to keep an eye on, but introduce a new way to celebrate the sport’s BMFs without compromising the structure of the rankings.
If the UFC wants its BMF idea to thrive, it’s time the belt and the current, structureless gimmicks are forgotten and a fair system that rewards fighters and fans alike is created.
