Dana White wishes he’d put the BMF belt on the line at UFC 308.
Featherweight champion Ilia Topuria sensationally knocked out Max Holloway in the third round of their main event at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night.
‘Blessed’ had never been stopped by strikes heading into his 34th MMA fight.
That toughness earned him a shot at the BMF belt, which he incredibly claimed with a last-second faceplant KO against Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in April.
Dana White wishes he put the BMF on the line at UFC 308
After a wildly successful event, Dana White went backstage for a post-fight press conference where he aimed an angry rant at Francis Ngannou, who he has been publicly feuding with since the heavyweight phenom left the UFC in 2023.
The UFC boss also revealed he had a big regret during Topuria vs Holloway.
White believes the BMF belt should’ve been up for grabs at UFC 308.
“Topuria’s belt was on the line [and] Max was trying to take that,” he said.
“I wanna say it was like halfway through the second round I said, ‘S***! We should’ve put the Bad Motherf***er title up on this fight too because these guys are both it’.
White previously welcomed the idea of a four-man tournament for the symbolic title, but right now he’s unsure what will happen with the belt first held by Jorge Masvidal.
He added: “I don’t know what we’ll do with it yet, but Max still has it. Max holds the title, so we’ll see what happens.”
Max Holloway takes issues with Ilia Topuria carrying fake BMF belt
Even though it wasn’t on the line, Topuria was seen walking around with his featherweight belt and a fake BMF belt after knocking out Holloway.
Post-fight, Topuria claimed he was surprised that Holloway didn’t meet him in the middle of the Octagon when he pointed to the ground and invited his opponent to swing as soon as their fight started.
Topuria also admitted that it’ll be “weird” for the UFC still to promote Holloway as the BMF champion after UFC 308.
However, his opponent thinks he’s weird for celebrating with a title that he did not win.
“It is what it is. Could you imagine Islam [Makhachev] walking around with two belts after knocking out [Volkanovski]? Let that sink in,” Holloway said.
“That belt is in a different weight class, for a different reason. I think the fans make it happen, and if the UFC wanted to make it happen, they would’ve put it up. I don’t know why they didn’t.”