Nate Diaz had simply had his hand raised after ending a three-year lack from the Octagon with a rugged triumph over Anthony Pettis in summer season 2019. It was a crowd-pleasing efficiency, as Diaz’s battles normally are, and when he stepped to the microphone for an interview inside the cage, he had a message for somebody because crowd.
“ Jorge Masvidal had a great last battle,” Diaz stated, much to the pleasure of “Gamebred,” who was sitting cageside in Anaheim, California. “All regard to the guy. There ain’t no gangsters in this video game any longer. There ain’t no one who does it ideal however me and him.”
Was this a tribute? A callout? Diaz didn’t define– till a couple of minutes later on backstage, when another microphone was put in front of him and he was asked if he wished to combat Masvidal.
” I’m going to protect the baddest motherf– er belt, the baddest motherf– er in the video game belt, versus who I think is the other baddest motherf– er in the video game,” Diaz stated.
To that point, the UFC brass had actually not visualized reserving such a match. However the blunt Diazian reasoning, integrated with the loud pop from the UFC 241 crowd after hearing the lively name drop, made it a no-brainer. So the battle was made.
And by the time Diaz and Masvidal stepped towards each other to eliminate that November at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the UFC had actually totally entered the spirit by setting up for grabs a silver BMF belt, developed simply for the event. Masvidal won by third-round medical professional’s interruption, and the glittering strap was twisted around him by among the baddest males in Hollywood, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
An off-the-wall idea had actually developed into an off-the-charts success, never ever to be duplicated. However …
Surprise, surprise, the BMF belt will be on the line as soon as again this Saturday in the primary occasion of UFC 291 ( 10 p.m. on ESPN+ PPV), a rematch in between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje It might effectively end up being the battle of the year. These 2 displayed in their very first conference in 2018 that they’re amongst the sport’s most heart-thumping action fighters.
Is that what makes somebody a BMF? Or does it have more to do with how a fighter acts outside the cage? Nobody truly understands, other than Diaz, who thought up the idea, and Masvidal, who welcomed it. Everybody else has a viewpoint, however, and those viewpoints differ considerably.
Our ESPN fight sports group fearlessly took a stab at ranking the truest BMFs in the history of mixed martial arts.
Guy’s BMF results: Liddell and Lawler take leading area
It’s not unexpected Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell inhabits the No. 1 area. There have actually been a great deal of fighters in the UFC who have actually embodied that “anytime, anywhere” technique to the sport, however at the end of the day, Liddell was the poster kid of that mindset. Anybody who was lucky adequate to see Liddell complete, or has actually returned to see his profession after the reality, understands this guy didn’t appreciate popularity or titles. He didn’t even appreciate cash. All he wished to do was battle.
He is the initial face of the UFC, and a huge factor for its long-lasting success. The reality that Robbie Lawler got as lots of votes as Liddell is a testimony to how extremely concerned he is by our panel. Although he’s a legend of the sport, his profile is not almost as high as Liddell’s. Nonetheless, he connected Liddell in total votes thanks to his body of work, which started in the UFC all the method back in 2002. There are lots of methods to examine a BMF. For Lawler, it’s the durability and the no-nonsense, no-frills technique. It’s likewise merely how comfy Lawler searched in the middle of a few of the most legendary battles this sport has actually ever seen. Absolutely nothing fazed this guy. He is the embodiment of somebody you ‘d desire viewing your back in a dark street. — Brett Okamoto
Women’s BMF results: Rousey stands alone
The leading 5 of this list may also be a ranking of the very best ladies’s fighters of perpetuity, though possibly they are out of order. This is various from the males’s list, which has some fighters who have resilience and an interesting, all-action design however who perhaps did not accomplish the greatest reaches of mixed martial arts achievement. Kimbo Slice is ranked, after all, and for as amusing as he was to see, nobody would error him for being an elite mixed martial arts fighter.
The ladies’s list, nevertheless, is comprised primarily of the elite of the elite. That most likely speaks with how brand-new ladies’s mixed martial arts still is at the greatest level. Ladies were brought into the UFC in 2013, long after the runs of numerous of the males’s rivals above. And the stars of the early days of ladies’s mixed martial arts in the UFC arrived with a significant ruthlessness. Ronda Rousey took the world by storm, armbarring her method to end up being the very first UFC ladies’s bantamweight champ.
After Rousey’s ground supremacy, Joanna Jedrzejczyk brought striking to the leading edge in the UFC’s ladies’s departments, piecing up everybody who got in her method throughout her run as strawweight champ. She ‘d consistently leave challengers bloodied and bruised from a constant barrage of punches, elbows, knees and kicks. Jedrzejczyk’s 2020 battle with Zhang Weili was the very best in ladies’s mixed martial arts history. Some fans have actually even called her “Joanna Violence.” Amanda Nunes and Cris Cyborg both succeeded by physically controling challengers, generally causing ruthless knockouts hidden prior to in ladies’s mixed martial arts. On The Other Hand, Valentina Shevchenko’s brand name of BMF has actually constantly been more of the cold, calculated and surgical range. — Marc Raimondi
Historic recommendation of previous BMFs
The early days of mixed martial arts often pitted one martial art versus another, however frequently the action inside the cage looked more like a toughman contest. At that time, the sport was cluttered with brawny fighters whose personalities stimulated not a dojo however a dark street.
None might rattle Royce Gracie, who for the very first 4 UFC one-night competitions in 1993 and ’94 was the one doing the daunting, in spite of being hardly 170 pounds with a child face. He would march to the Octagon as part of a Gracie train, a grim procession of bros and cousins and uncles, all using white gis and stoic grimaces, their hands resting on the shoulders of the Gracie in front of them.
Then there was Kimbo Slice, who developed a credibility for violence in Miami yards in the early 2000s, combating bare-knuckle bouts that made him a YouTube experience. Kimbo ultimately made his mark in mixed martial arts, both as a fighter and as the street-fight promoter who assisted make the world familiar with a BMF hall of famer, Masvidal. (There’s not truly a BMF hall of popularity, naturally, however the BMF belt itself has no concrete significance either, right?)
If you’re speaking about old-time BMFs, you need to consist of BJ Penn— who else would lick a challenger’s blood off of his glove? And Cris Cyborg is the ladies’s BMF GOAT. She has actually been daunting challengers for 18 years, with her icy gaze and her rock-hard fists. And at age 38, she’s still an active fighter. So look out. — Jeff Wagenheim
Who should be the next males’s BMF battle?
The belt requires some connection. If the UFC is going to restore what was expected to be a one-off novelty title, let’s do it the proper way. Either Poirier or Gaethje will win the belt Saturday, and after that it needs to be safeguarded. The terms needs to be that there is no weight class connected, which would make it entirely special compared to other champions and likewise remain within the spirit of the name. Bouts might even be at agreed-upon catchweights. This battle is at light-weight, however if the winner wishes to protect it at welterweight– possibly versus somebody like a returning Diaz– he needs to have the ability to do that.
My choice for the winner at UFC 291 would be a battle versus Max Holloway, if he beats “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung next month. Poirier and Holloway have actually combated in the past, and it was a war entirely befitting the BMF title. Gaethje vs. Holloway would be remarkable. The BMF belt has a terrific brand name and might be another marketing tool for the UFC that can heading pay-per-view occasions. It would likewise be a chance to highlight elite, amazing fighters like Holloway who may not always remain in a title discussion at this moment. — Raimondi
Who should remain in the very first ladies’s BMF battle?
Regrettably, a number of the leading woman BMFs have actually currently hung up their gloves. If there was a method to in some way reserve Rousey vs. Cyborg, that would most likely be your response, for pure fond memories alone. That possible match enticed ladies’s mixed martial arts for several years prior to it ended up being clear it would never ever occur.
As things stand today, the most suitable ladies’s BMF battle would likely be Shevchenko vs. Rose Namajunas It’s not a best match by any stretch, and it deserves keeping in mind the 2 are extremely friendly towards each other. They are likewise both coming off losses. However Shevchenko’s way of life screams BMF. Not just is she proficient at mixed martial arts, she appears like somebody you ‘d wish to coordinate with in a real world armageddon. And Namajunas has actually had numerous BMF minutes throughout her profession– including her 2017 upset knockout of Jedrzejczyk, the initial strawweight boogeywoman.
What’s great about the ladies’s side is that despite the fact that the UFC has never ever officially promoted a females’s BMF battle, a number of the alternatives that would certify we have actually currently seen, consisting of Rousey vs. Nunes, Nunes vs. Shevchenko, Nunes vs. Cyborg and Jedrzejczyk vs. Shevchenko. — Okamoto