The time is nigh. The UFC’s lightweight division, which is by far the toughest, most competitive division in the entire sport, is going through a change of guard. And the first domino to fall is the legendary Dustin Poirier. ‘The Diamond’, of course, is set to have his farewell fight at UFC 318 this July against Max Holloway for the latter’s BMF title. However, some found it bizarre since Dana White and Co. haven’t announced the main event for the card preceding that one. UFC 317, during International Fight Week on June 28, is still without a headliner.
Anyways, for his last fight, Poirier initially wanted to go a different way and throw back to the early, tournament days of the UFC, when fighters fought multiple times a night in a loser-goes-home format. “I was in [Dana White’s] office maybe six, seven months ago telling him, ‘Hey, let’s do a BMF tournament.’ And I pitched me, [Justin] Gaethje, Max [Holloway] and Dan Hooker.”
The former interim champ added, “But, he thought I was talking about a few months tournament where the guys fight each other, then a few months later they fight again. I was talking about a one-night tournament. He told me nobody would sanction that,” Poirier told Ariel Helwani in a recent interview.
What an event that would have been! It has been more than a quarter of a century since the UFC had such a tournament. It would certainly have sold a whole lot of PPVs, only because of the novelty, if nothing else. Especially given the participants ‘The Diamond’ picked for the four-man tournament.
4-man BMF tournament was such a missed oppertunity
byu/wayofthewutang inufc
Max Holloway, Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, and Dan Hooker are all absolute warriors who always come to fight. A tournament between these men would definitely have everything the fans love. A lot of striking, the promise of violent knockouts, and a title on the line. Not to mention, it would have given younger fans a brief glimpse into the wild west days of the UFC, which is a far cry from how the promotion operates today. This is why fans on the UFC subreddit were largely incensed that the UFC CEO. Let’s see what they said!
Fans react to Dana White shooting down Dustin Poirier’s four-man BMF tournament idea
One fan pointed out the obvious reason why a four-man BMF tournament between these four men would probably be a bad idea: “It’s no way possible these 1st two matches can happen, then the winners fight again, they will literally die lmaooo”. Another, however, didn’t seem too concerned about the potential injuries and health issues and felt that Dana White did a disservice by not agreeing to the BMF tournament: “Dana fumbled the bag”.
But the concern for the fighters’ well-being was a constant theme, especially given the proposed participants for it, as one fan felt that at least some of these guys wouldn’t get the medical clearance to fight again on the same night after their first fights: “Lol after 1 match, all of these 4 will be on their way to the ER. No way they could complete the tournament”.
One keen-eyed fan pointed out that if the UFC had indeed gone with the tournament, it would have created so much real excitement for the BMF title, which currently is jut seen as meaningless novelty for exciting fighters who aren’t in a position to contend for the actual title: “A tournament would actually make the BMF belt mean something instead of being some arbitrary prize.”
But not everyone was opposed to the idea of the tournament, as one fan pointed out how there indeed was such a one-night tournament at least in kickboxing, which some of the best MMA fighters from New Zealand had won: “Theres a kickboxing version of this in NZ called King In The Ring and Israel Adesanya, Carlos Ulberg and Navajo Stirling have all won it.”
Another commenter, however, was of the opposite view and felt Dana White refusing the one-night tournament format was totally legitimate and ultimately in these fighters’ interest: “Truth is I’m sure in the back of Dana’s mind he’s thinking. If someone dies in that cage, things could really go downhill”. It’s happened outside of the UFC.”
What do you think about Dana White refusing Dustin Poirier’s idea for a four-man BMF tournament for his last fight?
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