UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall is not a fan of the BMF title.
Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) defends it in a trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier (30-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC), which headlines Saturday’s UFC 318 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
Aspinall thinks a fight like this doesn’t need a BMF belt attached to it.
“Do you want my honest opinion? I mean, it’s a title, but it’s not a world championship, so what are we doing?” Aspinall told TNT Sports. “These guys don’t need a title. They’re two legends of the sport. Look at the name value, even look at the rankings, look at the amount of fights they’ve got, look at the shorts they’re wearing. We don’t really need a title on the line, to be honest.”
Aspinall was then asked if former interim UFC lightweight champion Poirier is the best fighter to never win an undisputed title. As a fighter who was just promoted from interim heavyweight champion to undisputed champ after Jon Jones retired, Aspinall had an honest answer.
“I’m going to give you a controversial answer again,” Aspinall said. “My opinion, it doesn’t matter what it says in front of the word world champion. If you have the words UFC and title on it, you’re a champion regardless. Is he the best fighter to ever not win an undisputed title? I would say definitely Dustin Poirier. He’s had such a respectable career that I don’t think the title matters for somebody like him in my opinion.”
