Dustin Poirier & Justin Gaethje to fight for revived UFC BMF title
The ceremonial BMF title has been revived by the UFC.
Announced Tuesday night, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje will fight for what they are calling the “vacant” title at UFC 291 on Saturday, July 29th in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The belt (short for “Baddest Motherf*cker”) was first competed for at UFC 244 in November 2019 in a fight between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz. The Rock presented the belt to Masvidal after he picked up the victory.
Masvidal never defended the title even though he said as recently as last month that he would be interested in doing so. He said he was retiring after a loss to Gilbert Burns in April.
Poirier last fought in November 2022, picking up a win over Michael Chandler in a fight of the year candidate. He first fought Gaethje in April 2018, picking up a fourth round TKO win.
Gaethje was last seen defeating Rafael Fiziev by majority decision in March.
The co-main event for the pay-per-view will feature former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz take on former UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira as the latter competes at 205 pounds for the first time.
The event will also feature Tony Ferguson who has been in the news after being arrested for a DUI, Derrick Lewis, Michael Chiesa, Paulo Costa and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.