Alexander Volkanovski believes the Baddest Motherf**ker belt lost its purpose at UFC 326 and that fans should not be surprised if it gets shelved by the promotion.
This past weekend, in the main event at UFC 326, Charles Oliveira dethroned Max Holloway and took home the BMF strap. Oliveira put on a grappling masterclass against “Blessed” in the rematch, secured a control time of 20 minutes and 49 seconds, scored 5 takedowns, and landed 110 total strikes en route to a unanimous decision win.
However, there was nothing BMF about the BMF title fight, and fans have blasted Charles Oliveira for the same. Everyone expected a SLUGFEST but instead got a SNOOZEFEST, as the Brazilian seemed desperate to win the strap at any cost and forgot why this belt was created in the first place.
Even in the last 10 seconds of the fight, “Do Bronxs” was more interested in his suffocating control instead of standing and banging until “Blessed” pointed down.
Nate Diaz, the creator of the title, was left disappointed with the lack of a true BMF-style stand-up war and labelled Holloway and Oliveira as “Boring Mother F**kers.”
Alexander Volkanovski on why the BMF belt can be taken away after UFC 326
Current and two-time UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski feels somewhat similar to what Nate Diaz said after watching Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway run it back at UFC 326.
The Australian does not undermine Oliveira’s dominant performance but believes the BMF belt is losing its purpose. In a recent YouTube video, “The Great” said:
If we start fighting like that now, don’t be surprised if the BMF belt gets taken away. We might not see it. No, I’m not having shots. I’m just saying that it’s losing its purpose. The purpose behind it is guys that are just going to go and put on fights. And they have all been [great] fights before this. Some weren’t. I am not trying to frustrate Charles. What an incredible win. Awesome. I am just talking about the BMF circumstances.”
Check out Alexander Volkanovski’s comments below:
UFC CEO Dana White, however, believes Charles Oliveira did “exactly what he needed to do” to beat “Blessed” and that there is no unwritten rule that in a BMF title fight, a fighter has to make it a stand-up war. At the UFC 326 post-fight presser, White said:
I thought there would be a lot more standup, and I thought Max would do a better job of defending the takedown… The goal at the end of the day in every fight is to win. He [Charles Oliveira] did exactly what he needed to do to win, and I think probably, you’d have to ask Max, but in training camp, they were probably expecting that if you see Charles fight, he’s not afraid to go toe to toe in the stand up and they obviously really believed that if they took him down to the ground, tonight would happen.”
Check out Dana White’s comments below (0:32):
