BMF Champion Max Holloway has got options after beating Dustin Poirier at UFC 318.
UFC 318 was no ordinary pay-per-view event. The card was specially built around Dustin Poirier’s retirement fight in front of his home crowd in New Orleans, Louisiana, with fans in attendance paying homage to the former UFC Interim Lightweight Champion.
Poirier met two-time rival Holloway for his BMF title in the main event of the evening. Despite a near-finish for ‘The Diamond’ in the second round, Poirier would lose to Holloway via unanimous decision.
Holloway made history as the first fighter to successfully defend the UFC’s silver ‘Baddest Motherf—–‘ belt on Saturday.
While some have called for the BMF title to be ‘retired’ like Poirier, there’s a good possibility Holloway defends the widely-popular BMF belt a second time.
Bloody Elbow ranks the top 3 BMF title fights for Max Holloway after defeating Poirier.
3. Dan Hooker
Dan Hooker is one of the most violent fighters in the lightweight division.
The #7-ranked contender recently turned a new leaf at 155 lbs, going from a 1-4 skid to a three-fight win streak with hard-fought victories over Mateusz Gamrot, Jalin Turner, and Claudio Puelles.
Hooker was initially scheduled to face Justin Gaethje in a highly-praised matchup at UFC 313, but was forced out of the fight with a broken hand.
What makes Hooker worthy of a BMF title fight? His back-to-back wars with Dustin Poirier and Paul Felder from years ago, with both fights receiving fight-of-the-night honors.
Hooker’s five-round main event with Poirier in 2020 is considered the best fight to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Hooker also had one of the best fights of last year when he fought Gamrot tooth-and-nail.
2. Charles Oliveira
A rematch between Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway has been a long time coming.
Oliveira and Holloway first fought at featherweight back in 2015. Though, it was hardly a fight as Oliveira suffered a freak neck injury a minute into the opening round and as a result, Holloway was declared the winner by TKO.
At lightweight, Oliveira nearly surpassed the win streaks of Holloway (13) and Tony Ferguson (12) with 11-straight victories.
Oliveira’s resume screams ‘BMF’ with stoppage wins over Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier and former BMF Champion Justin Gaethje.
Oliveira is coming off a KO loss to Ilia Topuria at UFC 317, but recent losses didn’t stop Poirier and Holloway from fighting each other a third time at UFC 318.
1. Ilia Topuria
For whatever reason, UFC Lightweight Champion Ilia Topuria wasn’t given the chance to fight for Holloway’s BMF title at UFC 309 last October.
The 16-0 Topuria is on one of the best streaks in UFC history, knocking out the likes of all-time great Alexander Volkanovski, Holloway, and most recently Oliveira.
If Topuria wasn’t worthy of fighting Holloway for the BMF title back then, the champion certainly is now.
“Yes, I do,” White said, when asked if Topuria’s done enough to fight for the BMF title.