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USA Today
18-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Dustin Poirier wants Lil Wayne to wrap the BMF belt at UFC 318
From one Louisiana legend to another. NEW ORLEANS – It looks like Lil Wayne will get the honor to wrap the "Baddest Motherf*cker" belt around the winner at this weekend's UFC 318. This Saturday, the BMF title will be up for grabs as Max Holloway puts his belt on the line in a trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 318 – which takes place at Smoothie King Center (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+). The BMF title, separate from the divisional UFC undisputed belts, has been presented on fight night by a special guest other than UFC CEO Dana White, who ordinarily crowns the champions. This time around, both Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) and Poirier (30-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC) want that person to be rapper Lil Wayne – who will be walking out Poirier, a fellow Louisiana native, in his retirement fight. "Let Weezy do it," Poirier said when asked about it at Thursday's UFC 318 pre-fight press conference. Holloway has no objections, "I'm not going to disagree with that." There's been three BMF title fights since the inauguration of the belt – which was original supposed to be a one-off event. At UFC 244 in 2019, the inaugural night of the BMF title, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson wrapped the belt around Jorge Masvidal, who defeated Nate Diaz. Then, it was a then retired Masvidal, who gave the belt to Justin Gaethje when he knocked out Poirier at UFC 291 on July 2023. In the most recent BMF title bout, which went down April 2024 at UFC 300, UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman, who had just recovered from saving his parents from a house fire, wrapped the belt around Holloway, who knocked out Gaethje in one of the greatest knockouts in MMA history.
USA Today
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Daniel Cormier shares ideas for who should wrap BMF belt around UFC 318 winner's waist
Daniel Cormier has two people in mind to put the BMF belt around the UFC 318 winner. Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) defends his BMF title in a trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier (30-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC) on Saturday (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. For the inaugural BMF title fight between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz at UFC 244, it was "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson who wrapped the belt around the victorious Masvidal's waist. For the second BMF title fight between Justin Gaethje and Poirier at UFC 291, it was Masvidal. For the third and most recent one, Mark Coleman wrapped the belt around Holloway's waist after he knocked out Gaethje at UFC 300. This time, Cormier has a specific name for both Poirier and Holloway should they emerge victorious. "If Lil Wayne is walking him out, Lil Wayne should walk out there and put the belt on Dustin Poirier," Cormier said on "Good Guy/Bad Guy" with Chael Sonnen. "I think Lil Wayne should do it." As for Holloway, Cormier went with a more sentimental choice. "It's kind of like personal because I watched the disappointment of the last fight. I'd let his wife do it because they're so close, and she means so much," Cormier continued. "I would let Max's wife do it because I saw how sad they were after the last fight. It's not just Max fighting. It's his entire team, his entire family. I would let his wife do it because of how much it means to the family, or I'd let his son do it. I'd let his wife or his son do it."
Time of India
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Donald Trump eyes White House lawn as potential UFC battleground for nation's 250th anniversary
The Dana White– connection continues to thrive. And now it's heading straight to the White House lawn. President Donald Trump made a bombshell announcement during the 'America 250' event on the eve of July 4 at the Iowa State Fairgrounds: the UFC will organize a mixed martial arts fight on the grounds of the White House to celebrate America's 250th birthday in 2026. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The event is expected to draw nearly 25,000 spectators to the historic venue. 'Does anybody watch UFC? The great Dana White? We're going to have a UFC fight. We're going to have a UFC fight, think of this on the grounds of the White House,' Trump told the crowd. He continued, 'We have a lot of land there, we're going to build a little. We're not, Dana is going to do it. Dana is great, one of a kind, going to be UFC fight, championship fight, full fight, like 20,000 to 25,000 people, and we're going to do that as part of '250'.' Trump further emphasized the scale of the celebration, adding, 'We're going to have some incredible events, some professional events, some amateur events. But the UFC fight is going to be a big deal, too.' The White House press secretary later confirmed Trump's intentions, calling them 'dead serious.' A UFC official also told CNN that plans are actively being discussed to bring the event to life. The UFC and Donald Trump has a long history It is no secret that Trump and White have been close allies since the early days of the UFC when the sport was banned in nearly all of the states in the US. Moreover, it was termed as 'human cockfighting' owing to the violent and unorganised nature of the promotion when it kicked off in 1993, and in the later years, popularly known as 'The Dark Ages'. Moreover, Trump even offered his illustrious 'Trump Taj Mahal' in Atlantic City way back in 2001 when the UFC was struggling to find venues for its events. And in recent times, this bond has only grown stronger with the POTUS attending multiple UFC PPVs since 2019, including UFC 244, UFC 299, UFC 309, UFC 314, and UFC 316. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Apart from this, Dana White was also part of Trump's presidential campaign and, alongside Joe Rogan, was a big part in getting Trump back into office. It will be interesting to see how the UFC brings its fighting DNA to the culture of the White House. Also Read:
USA Today
27-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Nate Diaz plots UFC return, would like to 'f*cking whoop someone's ass there'
Nate Diaz plots UFC return, would like to 'f*cking whoop someone's ass there' Could Nate Diaz seriously be plotting a UFC comeback? He's at least talking like he is. Diaz (21-13 MMA, 16-11 UFC) amicably parted ways with the UFC after submitting Tony Ferguson in September 2022. He has since boxed Jake Paul and Jorge Masvidal, but is still interested in returning to the octagon. "I plan on going back to UFC," Diaz said on "The HJR Podcast." "If they'll have me, I would like to go back and f*cking whoop someone's ass there. I'm not fighting at (155 pounds), though. Right now I'm not fighting in there because there's nobody to fight really. It's kind of slow rolling. I don't really have a name in mind right now in the UFC. That's why I'm not there right now." Completing his trilogy bout with Conor McGregor is always an option for Diaz, but McGregor's future remains unclear. Diaz was the first to hand McGregor a loss in the UFC when he submitted him at UFC 196, but he lost the rematch by majority decision at UFC 202. "Whenever he's back, I'm sure we're going to fight," Diaz said of McGregor. "Me and him for sure got unfinished (business). Got to happen." Outside of McGregor, the Diaz-inspired BMF belt is also something of interest for the Stockton star. Diaz lost to Masvidal for the inaugural BMF title by doctor's stoppage TKO at UFC 244, and the belt has since changed hands a couple of times. Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) is the current BMF champion, and he defends his belt against Dustin Poirier in the UFC 318 headliner July 19. "Those are the guys right there who I would want to fight, like Max Holloway" Diaz said of BMF champions. "I would like to fight the other guy who's really good too, Topuria. He's really good, but he's smaller than me. I'm done with 155. I'm cool off that. It always was (a hard weight cut). When I was 18, it was hard. I'm staying at '70. I'll fight at 185, too."
USA Today
29-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
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.
