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.
