History of the BMF title: The unique UFC championship inspired by Nate Diaz

USA Today

a day ago

If it wasn't for Nate Diaz, there would be no BMF title belt in the UFC.
Coming off a three-year layoff, Diaz returned to the octagon at UFC 241 in August 2019 and won a dominant unanimous decision against Anthony Pettis, beating up the former UFC lightweight champion over the course of 15 minutes. Afterward, Diaz put down the entire sport and made his feeling clear that there was only one man at the time worthy of sharing the cage with him.
"The reason I was off is because everybody sucks. There's nobody to fight," Diaz said in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. "With this belt, I want to defend it against – Jorge Masvidal had a good last fight. All respect to the man, but there ain't no gangsters in this game anymore. There ain't nobody who's done it right but me and him. So I know my man's a gangster, but he ain't no West Coast gangster."
That callout instantly received a rousing reaction from the Southern California crowd at Honda Center in Anaheim, including from Masvidal standing cageside. But what belt was Diaz talking about defending? We found out during his post-fight news conference.
'This is the fight game,' Diaz told reporters. 'Quit acting like this is a professional sport. (Take) whatever they want to give me? No, I'm going to take what's mine. That's what I'm talking about, the baddest mother(expletive) title. I need that belt made as soon as possible.'
Dana White and the UFC brass heard Diaz loud and clear. Just like that, the BMF title was born.
Here's a look at the complete history of BMF title fights since then.
UFC 244: Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz (November 2, 2019)
The original BMF title fight obliged Diaz's request and pitted two OGs of the fight game against each other, two guys who had reputations for being "bad motherf*ckers." With Masvidal coming off his record-breaking knockout of Ben Askren and Diaz coming off his aforementioned dismantling of Pettis, their popularity was at an all-time high. The UFC recognized this and shrewdly made a huge deal about the matchup, announcing Masvidal vs. Diaz as the UFC 244 main event at Madison Square Garden and enlisting Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to oversee their faceoff and present the freshly minted BMF belt to the winner.
The fight turned out to be mostly one sided, with Masvidal's speed presenting problems for Diaz, whose durability was on display as he absorbed a good number of significant strikes and kicks. Diaz had moments and might've started to turn the tide in Round 3, but a nasty gash over his right eye made Masvidal the winner by doctor stoppage for a rather disappointing conclusion. The BMF title belt figuratively belonged to Diaz heading into UFC 244, but it was Masvidal who became the first actual BMF champion.
UFC 291: Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje 2 (July 29, 2023)
The BMF title originally was conceived as a one-off, which is why Masvidal never defended it in his ensuing four fights (all defeats) before announcing his retirement following an April 2023 loss to Gilbert Burns. The belt was an afterthought until the UFC revived it almost four years later for a rematch between Poirier and Gaethje. While the decision felt like it was made simply because the UFC was in "need" of a title fight to headline a pay-per-view, there was no question that Poirier and Gaethje were both worthy of the "baddest motherf*cker" moniker given their history of violence.
Poirier and Gaethje put on a classic in their first fight in 2018, and the rematch had the same energy – until Gaethje unleashed a head kick that sent Poirier crashing to the canvas for a knockout win. Masvidal was on hand to do the honors of wrapping the belt around Gaethje's waste for a literal passing of the BMF torch.
UFC 300: Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway (April 13, 2024)
With the BMF title now officially a thing, the UFC booked Gaethje to defend his title against former featherweight champion Holloway, who was returning to lightweight for the first time in five years.
What a freaking fight.
Holloway was brilliant as he pieced up Gaethje for the majority of almost five full rounds. Then as the 10-second clapper sounded, Holloway pointed to the center of the cage where Gaethje met him, and the two men thew haymakers at each other. Holloway landed a brutal right hand that crumbled Gaethje for the knockout win with 1 second remaining, giving us one of the most memorable finishes in UFC history.
UFC 318: Max Holloway vs. Dustin Poirier 3 (July 18, 2025)
After his BMF title win over Gaethje, Holloway returned to featherweight for a title fight with Ilia Topuria and suffered the first knockout loss of his career at UFC 308. That result prompted Holloway to declare himself done with competing at 145 pounds, and so he returned to lightweight for a trilogy against Poirier, who announced the UFC 318 main event for Holloway's BMF title would be his retirement fight.
Holloway had lost their two previous encounters but for the most part dominated the third meeting. That said, Holloway and Poirier gave us a memorable Round 2 in which both men scored knockdowns and had a chance to finish each other. After that, though, the fight was mostly one way traffic for Holloway, who put on a striking clinic and became the first man to successfully defend the BMF title.