Din Thomas: UFC should 'retire' BMF belt if Dustin Poirier wins final fight
Din Thomas: UFC should 'retire' BMF belt if Dustin Poirier wins final fight
Din Thomas thinks Max Holloway vs. Dustin Poirier 3 at UFC 318 should be the final BMF title fight.
Reigning BMF champion Holloway (26-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC) will attempt to defend the belt in Poirier's (30-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC) retirement fight, which takes place July 19 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
It will be just the fourth matchup in UFC history with the BMF theme attached, starting with Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz at UFC 244 in November 2019. It went into hiatus until Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje at UFC 291 in July 2023, then Holloway vs. Gaethje at UFC 300 in April 2024. There is no official rhyme or reason for when BMF fights happen, but Thomas thinks the spirit in which it was created doesn't have much more legs.
"I think (this should be the last one), only because the BMF belt is so limited," Thomas told MMA Junkie. "Everybody wants to fight for it, but because it's kind of been in the hands of lightweights and welterweights, you really alienate a lot of people who should fight for it, who could fight for it. So it's like, 'What are we doing with this?' And to be honest with you, the game ain't really full of BMFs like it used to be. Now we've got a bunch of athletes lobbying for money and money fights. We don't got a lot of BMFs like we used to have, so I think they should just do away with it."
It's uncertain what the future of the BMF title could be if Holloway wins at UFC 318. The UFC might see further promotional use for it, but if Poirier emerges triumphant in his final career fight, Thomas thinks it would be a fitting end to the lineage.
"If they retire the BMF belt with Dustin, I'm OK with that," Thomas said. "It gives Dustin an opportunity to walk away with the BMF belt. This is something that will really encapsulate his entire career because Dustin was a BMF his entire career, and if he could walk away with that belt? Come on, man. This is storybook. This is unprecedented activity here, and I love every bit of it."
To hear more from Thomas, check out his complete appearance on "The Bohnfire" podcast with MMA Junkie senior reporter Mike Bohn in the video above.
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