While the "Baddest Motherfucker" belt is not an official UFC weight class, it's a time-honored tradition amongst the loudest voices at the promotion. However, the BMF title fight at UFC 291 in Salt Lake City was so much more than a vanity title. Five years ago, Dustin Poirier handed Justin Gaethje the second loss of his career at a UFC Fox event in Arizona. 291 was the perfect opportunity for Gaethje to get his revenge and show the promotion that he was a title contender.
It was a much more patient Gaethje on display in Utah. The 34-year-old knew that he would be hard-pressed to win an all-out war of attrition against Poirier. After an exploratory, back-and-fourth Round One, Gaethje sprung his trap. He carefully baited Poirier into closing the distance before launching a lethal head kick. The moment his shin made contact, it was over. Poirier hit the mat and seconds later, Herb Dean was calling the fight to prevent any additional damage. Gaethje was officially crowned the BMF champion by Jorge Masvidal.
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Gaethje And McGregor Trade Barbs
Of course, it wasn't long before the wolves began to circle Gaethje. "Justin, I’ll slap you around," Connor McGregor tweeted soon after the fight. "I’m the real bmf, he can fight for pennies if he wants but I want spirits, I call the shots, I’m in it to launch shots, fuck chandler, you want it call for it." Conor McGregor's first post-injury fight has long been expected to be against longtime rival Michael Chandler. However, the Irish fighter clearly seems eager to strike while the iron is hot with Gaethje.
However, Gaethje didn't seem all that eager to comply with McGregor's demands. “I think he’s turned me down six times,” Gaethje told MMA Fighting. “And usually, you have to lose to fight him, so don’t know what’s going on.” However, the American wasn't even close to being done with his evisceration of McGregor. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know. You know, I don’t really care. I don’t really care. Because I don’t care. Whatever. I fight MMA, I like to fight big fights, I like exciting things, so it sounds pretty exciting to me. I’m not going to fight someone on steroids. I’ve never taken steroids in my life, never will – well, maybe when I retire, I might. But I’ve never taken steroids, and I don’t want to fight someone that’s cheating. And I probably shouldn’t even say that if I want the fight, but it’s the truth.”
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