Think Holloway for Budd is far-fetched? Think again.
An idea that I have- just an idea, mind you- is for the UFC and Bellator to team up for a trade of two former featherweight champions- Max Holloway to Bellator in exchange for Julia Budd to the UFC. The UFC was involved in a trade two years ago, sending Demetrious Johnson to ONE Championship in exchange for Ben Askren (Johnson went 3-0 to capture the ONE Flyweight Grand Prix while Askren went 1-2 and then retired).
My original idea was for Holloway and AJ McKee to switch promotions since the 16-0 McKee could be a compelling addition along with Jung, Ortega, Rodriguez, Kattar, Magomedsharipov and Stephens. Then I remembered that McKee is in the semifinals of the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix and a loss could hurt some trade potential (think Paige VanZant hitting free agency off a loss).
Why should Max Holloway be traded?
He is a native Hawaiian, first off- and Bellator had a show in Honolulu back in December. Once people can attend MMA events again, that could be a major draw for Hawaii shows, especially if Holloway is in the main event. And Holloway is no stranger to main events (think UFC 206/212/218/236/240).
He isn't defending a UFC belt- he lost it to Alexander Volkanovski back in December and was beaten again by Volkanovski last month.
New challenges- think Patricio Freire/Pedro Carvalho/AJ McKee/Darrion Caldwell/Adam Borics
Why should Julia Budd be traded?
A new challenge for Amanda Nunes- with all due respect to who's currently on the roster, the UFC women's featherweight roster is basically Amanda Nunes and five or six others. A Nunes-Budd fight for the belt could be done if Budd comes over from Bellator. The downside, of course, is there aren't any other fights on the horizon for the UFC women's featherweights.
What else can be done for the UFC women's featherweight division?
Convince some women's bantamweights to move up would be my best guess.