Jorge Masvidal beats out ‘The Rock,’ will present BMF belt to Poirier vs. Gaethje winner | UFC 291

Ask, and you shall receive.

Jorge Masvidal has been the sole holder of the infamous “Baddest Motherf—er” belt since it was invented for his big money fight against Nate Diaz at UFC 244 in Nov. 2019 (see a pic here). After beating Diaz via doctor’s stoppage due to cuts (watch highlights), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson strapped the BMF belt around Masvidal’s waist, elevating “Gamebred” to a new level of stardom.

And in Masvidal’s opinion, he should be the one who passes the title onto the next baddest motherf—er. That’s set to happen at UFC 291 in Salt Lake City, Utah, when Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje collide for the second time to rehash of their “Fight of the Century” brawl.

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MASSIVE MIDDLEWEIGHT MATCH! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) makes its highly anticipated return to Sydney, Australia, for the first time in five years on Sat., Sept. 9, 2023, with a 185-pound world title fight inside Qudos Bank Arena. In the ESPN+-streamed pay-per-view (PPV) main event, Middleweight roost-ruler, Israel Adesanya, plans to silence No. 5-seeded contender, Sean Strickland. In UFC 293’s hard-hitting Heavyweight co-main event, No-6-ranked fan favorite, Tai Tuivasa, locks horns with towering Russian, Alexander Volkov (No. 8).

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“It should only be me and me alone,” Masvidal said in an interview with MMA Junkie. “It should be me giving it to the winner of that, and the winner of that giving it to the winner [of the next fight], and so on and so on. That’s the tradition, right?”

There’s not really any tradition here since it’s a made up belt that’s never been contested since its inception, but it’s a solid idea. Dana White liked it when it was brought up during UFC 290’s post-fight press conference.

“Sure, we can do that,” White said. “Done. Congrats!”

To be clear, there was no indication that “The Rock” was ever in the running to return for another BMF belt handover. We haven’t seen him hanging around at UFC events much lately, despite his Project Rock shoes being the official shoes of the promotion. Maybe he’s too busy developing that long-awaited mixed martial arts (MMA) movie on “The Smashing Machine” Mark Kerr?

UFC 291 goes down on July 29, 2023, from inside Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Aside from the five-round BMF main event, the pay-per-view (PPV) card is stacked with bookings designed for maximum violence.

In UFC 291’s co-feature, Jan Blachowicz will welcome Alex Pereira to Light Heavyweight, Tony Ferguson returns against Bobby Green, and Paulo Costa will take on scary prospect, Ikram Aliskerov. Lest we forget, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson and Michel Pereira will also see who’s got the fanciest kicks in the sport.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 291 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard on ESPN/ESPN+/ABC at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 291: “Poirier vs. Gaethje 2”” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.