5 Possibilities for UFC's BMF Title
Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal are set to square off at UFC 244 in a Welterweight bout for the aptly-named "BMF" title belt. These two UFC long-stays have agreed to terms and despite significant road-blocks in the lead-up to the event, the winner is set to be crowned by Hollywood icon and WWE legend Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on November 2nd.
There has been no shortage of controversy and drama in the build-up to what looks to be a blockbuster card at New York's legendary Madison Square Garden. Originally set to be headlined by Welterweight champions Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington, Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal are set to main event in a fight for the newly formed "BMF" Championship belt.
On top of this it appeared that the "BMF" fight would not be taking place after USADA (the UFC's contracted anti-doping agency) flagged Diaz for trace amounts of SARM: an anabolic agent covered by USADA's extensive drug testing. Since then, Diaz has been cleared of wrongdoing by USADA, as the source of the elevated levels was found to be a tainted supplement.
UFC 244 and specifically main event title bout has received widespread attention, both positive and negative from UFC fighters such as Conor McGregor and Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson who has referred to the newly created title as "trash". UFC fans are also mixed in their opinions of the belt. Adding on top of that with The Rock weighing in on Twitter, the "BMF" title has generated significant publicity for the UFC.
With the fight scheduled to happen again, there are many potential opportunities for the UFC to capitalise on such publicity for the newly-formed Championship; these are just a few potential possibilities that we may see:
#5 No contest
The match may result in a no contest leaving The Rock with nobody to strap the belt to. As unlikely as this is, it's not a totally improbable scenario. We have just seen Jake Hager's bout at Bellator 231 ruled a no contest after an accidental knee to the crotch of his opponent: Anthony Garrett. We also recently witnessed Jeremy Stephens and Yair Rodriguez ruled a no contest after an unfortunate eye poke just 15 seconds into the main event of last month's UFC Fight Night 159 in Mexico City.
This is probably the worst case scenario as the fans would leave disappointed, much of the "BMF" hype would be derailed, and The Rock would be left holding a $50,000 belt with no victor left to strap it onto. Perhaps, this wouldn't be the worst thing however, as given this circumstance we would almost certainly see a rematch further down the line.
Ultimately, we would either see the "BMF" title go out with an unimpressive whimper if the terms for a rematch could not be agreed upon, or it wrapped neatly around the waist of one of the two competitors.