Dan Hooker wants the BMF belt back in the gutter where it was born, and honestly, I’d like to help him carry it there.
Talking to Submission Radio, the New Zealander laid out his theory of how the UFC’s novelty strap lost its stink. His villain is Charles Oliveira, who took the title from Max Holloway at UFC 326 with a dominant decision built on grappling. That’s a win plenty of people felt cut against everything the belt was supposed to stand for. Hooker’s verdict was blunt: “It was cool for a bit and then he kind of made it not cool.” Then, for anyone who missed the point: “I think he killed it.”
The line getting passed around r/MMA, though, is the bigger idea. Hooker described the BMF title as a belt for a specific species of fighter. “That was the guys whose careers are a f*cking mess,” he said, naming Jorge Masvidal as “hot and cold for a minute” and Nate Diaz as a fellow member of the messy-record club. His complaint is that the UFC drifted from that, and that “they let too many nice guys have a crack.”
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He’s right about the disease. He’s wrong about the symptom.
Manners were never the issue
Remember where this thing came from. Diaz cut a fiery promo after his win at UFC 241, and the promotion built UFC 244 around him and Masvidal fighting for a belt that didn’t exist a few months earlier. Masvidal won. That whole chapter felt like two guys who’d fight you in a Waffle House parking lot getting handed a trophy for it. Perfect.
Then Justin Gaethje beat Dustin Poirier for the vacant title, and Holloway claimed it at UFC 300 with what history already files as an all-time great performance. Hooker singled Max out by name: “Then they had Max do it, and he’s like the nicest guy in the f*cking world.”
Sure. Max is a sweetheart. He’s also the guy whose UFC 300 run is the strongest argument the belt ever had for existing. Nobody walked out of that night thinking the BMF title had gone soft. Being polite at the press conference has nothing to do with it. The belt goes soft when the man holding it fights like he’s protecting a lead.
That’s the UFC 326 problem in one sentence. Oliveira is one of the most dangerous finishers lightweight has ever seen, and he chose the safe, grinding route to a decision for a title whose entire brand is “don’t do that.” That’s a matter of fight selection inside the cage, and Hooker’s own first quote, the one about Oliveira making it uncool, nails it far better than the nice guys bit does.
There’s a funny irony sitting right next to this story, too. This same week, Ray Longo went on the Anik & Florian Podcast and wondered aloud whether the UFC nudges fights toward a certain style, after Dan Miragliotta’s controversial standup at UFC Vegas 123. “If you don’t fight a certain fight, you’re not getting in that organization,” Longo said. Whether you buy that theory or not, it’s wild that a promotion so many people accuse of chasing action handed its action belt to a wrestling-style decision and then booked the winner to defend it.
Hooker’s best point is about who gets invited
Where Hooker really cooks is the Bobby Green line. He said Green “could lose 20 times and he’s still a BMF contender,” and that’s the most elegant definition of this belt anyone has offered. The undisputed title is for the best fighter. The BMF title should be for the fighter you’d least want to see across the bar at 2 a.m. Records shouldn’t matter. Rankings shouldn’t matter. Trash talk and violence should.
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He also called out the real rot, which is the UFC treating the thing as inventory. “For some reason, they’re adamant on this BMF belt sticking around and just having another belt to put up for grabs,” Hooker said. That’s the part that bugs me. When the belt becomes a consolation prize for contenders stuck in a title line, it stops meaning anything.
Which brings us to UFC 335 on Dec. 12, where Oliveira defends against Diego Lopes. Hooker likes the matchup, and Lopes himself has said he doesn’t see another crack at Volk coming soon. So yes, it’s a good fight wearing a belt that feels like a costume.
Hooker has skin in this
Let’s not pretend he’s a neutral historian. Hooker fights Brian Ortega at UFC Qatar on Nov. 21, and he openly sketched a path where he beats Ortega, Lopes beats Oliveira, and then he challenges Lopes for the BMF title. He even admitted the Lopes upset is the tougher part: “I feel like I can beat Brian Ortega, but now, Diego Lopes beating Charles Oliveira, I feel like that’s a much bigger ask.”
I don’t hold that against him. Calling your shot is the most BMF thing you can do, and a guy who describes his own record as part of the mess is exactly who belongs in that conversation. My one edit: drop the nice guys complaint and keep the fighting one. Max was fine. The grind was the crime.
Hooker gets his first say on Nov. 21 against Ortega. If he wants to fix the belt, the blueprint is easy. Win ugly, talk loud and go knock on Lopes’s door after Dec. 12.
