Dustin Poirier proposes sweeping rule changes for UFC’s BMF title bouts

Dustin Poirier is as old-school as they come — which is why he wouldn’t mind seeing the wide-open rule set of the old PRIDE FC days come back for one night only.

Poirier, who is gearing up for his final fight at UFC 318 on July 19 in New Orleans, will attempt to capture the BMF title when he faces Max Holloway in a highly anticipated trilogy bout. It will be Poirier’s final MMA fight after a career spanning over 16 years, and speaking on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Poirier outlined his perfect fight scenario for his Octagon swan song.

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“I would totally be down with doing a 10-minute first round, if they wouldn’t allow [a] one-night [tournament], five rounds each fight — or even [a] one-night tournament [with] three rounds each fight,” Poirier said. “It would be too many MMA rounds in one night for a guy. I would do one long first round. Whatever we want, dude. I think it would be a cool idea.

“Bring back the 10-minute first round. Love that. And also, if we do it that way, let’s go really far back. Let’s do a 10-minute first round, and you judge a fight as a whole. Not round-by-round. At the end of every fight, I would rather the judge say, ‘Which guy would you be walking out of the Octagon?’ That’s what I want.”

The now-defunct PRIDE promotion in Japan popularized a two-round format during its existence. While the 10-minute first round and five-minute second round format is much rarer, it still exists today in Japan’s RIZIN Fighting Federation if both fighters agree to it. Scoring fights as a whole and all variants of ground strikes are alive and well in Japan too, even with MMA’s usual three five-minute rounds.

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UFC’s closest format to that PRIDE model came during its earliest days, when rules were as limited as possible. In the future, however, Poirier likes the idea of adopting something even more unique for the BMF title, and would gladly kick things off with Holloway.

“Every time there’s a BMF title fight, 10-minute first round,” Poirier said. “Fights judged as a whole. Soccer kicks allowed. We’re getting close with the hands can touch [the ground] and you can still boot somebody [in the face].”

Everything is set up for Poirier to have a memorable homecoming at UFC 318, whether he wins or loses. Obviously the goal is to avoid the latter and rebound from his tough title loss to UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 this past June.

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The BMF title concept was initially expected to be a one-off spectacle when Jorge Masvidal fought Nate Diaz at UFC 244 in November 2019, according to UFC CEO Dana White. That changed when the promotion decided to resurrect the strap for Poirier’s first attempt — a rematch against Justin Gaethje in July 2023. Unfortunately for “The Diamond,” he came up short via a second-round knockout.

Considering how the stars have aligned for Poirier to get a big trilogy bout sendoff at home in Louisiana, the cherry on top would be a permanent retirement of the title, making Poirier truly the last of his kind.

“That would be dope, man,” Poirier said. “To be the last BMF and kind of have that part in UFC history, fight history. But it’s whatever, dude. I just want to get it. I’ve never lost two in a row. So obviously I lost my last fight to Islam — I plan to retire, keeping that same pattern.”