Ariel Helwani argues why UFC should retire BMF title immediately: "An absolute mess"
Ariel Helwani recently provided his take on the UFC BMF title. The MMA journalist believes that the promotion should retire the title since it further divides the division, giving the impression that there are two champions in one weight class.
In a recent episode of his podcast The Ariel Helwani Show, Helwani expressed his thoughts on Kamaru Usman's remarks about the BMF belt. Sharing the segment of his podcast on X, he wrote:
"The BMF title is an absolute mess. Just retire it. End it."
Meanwhile, Helwani used Islam Makhachev as an example, asking how Max Holloway could be the BMF champion when Makhachev was still the reigning lightweight champion. He pointed out that it only causes confusion within the division and suggested retiring the belt, which was created back in 2019 when Jorge Masvidal faced Nate Diaz at UFC 244:
''He [Usman] was the king of the welterweights and the people who were fighting for the BMF title weren't in title contention just yet and so if you can't be a champion there, you could create your own belt and this has been the issue that I've always had with the BMF title.
"If I'm Islam Makhachev and you are touting Max Holloway is the baddest motherf**ker on the planet, I'm like, 'Yo, this is my weight class, you won to fight in, I'm the baddest guy on the planet, I'm the baddest MFer at 155,' that's what the belt should recognize... Not some like secondary division within the division... It should have ended with the Masvidal fight in MSG.''
Check out Ariel Helwani's comments below:
Notably, Usman revealed on his Pound 4 Pound podcast that he was the reason behind the introduction of the BMF belt, due to the cancellation of his title fight with Colby Covington. As a result, the promotion decided to schedule Masvidal vs. Diaz at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Holloway currently holds the BMF title after securing a devastating knockout against Justin Gaethje at UFC 300.
Dana White regrets not putting the BMF title on the line for the Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway fight
The highly anticipated featherweight title fight between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway took place last weekend at UFC 308, where Holloway suffered the first knockout defeat of his professional MMA career.
During the post-fight press conference, Dana White was asked why the BMF title wasn't at stake. In response, the UFC CEO stated that he later realized it should have been on the line along with the featherweight title:
''[Ilia] Topuria’s belt was on the line, Max [Holloway] was trying to take that. Halfway through the second round, I said, ‘Sh*t, we should have put the Bad Motherf**ker title up for this fight, too, because these guys are both [BMFs].’”
Check out Dana White's comments below (16:36):