UFC 326 was awful.
Outside of a couple impressive finishes, the “Prelims” were badly bogged down by one-sided decisions that never left third gear. The main card heated up for a moment with big knockouts courtesy of Gregory Rodrigues (see it here) and Drew Dober (that one here), then the card took an absolute nosedive as Raul Rosas Jr. did his best Jailton Almeida impression for 15 excruciating minutes. The co-main event of Caio Borralho vs. Reinier de Ridder was okay, but there is simply never a strong
demand to see two tired Middleweights wrangle in the clinch for most of 15 minutes.
Around that time, UFC’s White House card — sorry, the Freedom Fights 250 — was officially announced after months of promotion and hype. In a vacuum, a pair of title fights featuring Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira is undeniably great, but when you consider all of UFC CEO Dana White’s bluster and promises … the six-fight card leaves plenty to be desired.
All hope was riding on Charles Oliveira vs. Max Holloway before all of the above. Only Oliveira vs. Holloway could save the evening, but we’re talking about two men who routinely deliver. These former champions have come through for fight fans more than just about anyone else, and that’s a big reason why the BMF belt was attached to the matchup.
It’s not the whole reason, though.
The BMF belt, at its core, is a marketing gimmick. It’s a way for UFC to say there’s a title on the line when there is in fact not a title on the line. Remember: the belt on the line for Oliveira vs. Holloway was one of three current Lightweight titles, even if everybody and their mother is well-aware that Ilia Topuria is the true 155-pound king.
Unfortunately for UFC, “Do Bronx” has been an undisputed champion. The BMF belt is surely a nice prize, but it’s never been his top priority. For years now, Oliveira has been honest in his ambitions: he wants to win his original belt back and secure a massive payday versus Conor McGregor. That’s a pair of fully understandable goals, but neither have anything to do with being BMF king.
Therefore, it made perfect sense for Oliveira to drop the gimmick and do his best to win. Oliveira stood and struck with Holloway precisely as long as was necessary to set up his takedown, and once on top, “Do Bronx” didn’t take any chances. He threw the occasional big elbow and consistently hunted for the strangle, but Oliveira was generally just happy to win.
By abandoning the BMF ideal, Oliveira very arguably put on the best performance of his career.
Were that dumb belt not featured in the advertisements, nobody would complain. Everyone would be impressed by the 2-1 underdog rebounding so well and dominating Holloway, who has otherwise been absolutely top-notch at 155 pounds. Instead, there’s a great deal of grumbling about Oliveira failing to uphold the silliness of BMF ethics.
The whole thing is a waste of time.
The BMF belt was a fun gimmick exactly one time when Nate Diaz first coined the term versus Jorge Masvidal. It added an element of intrigue to two action fighters who were not serious threats to the divisional champion. Since then, the title has been routinely mismanaged. Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira are former champions of some variety and were in actual title contention. When real stakes are on the line, it’s inevitable that somebody like Oliveira would eventually cast aside the semantics and do their best to win outright.
Now that it’s happened, let’s take the opportunity to bury the BMF title for good.
