Just when it seemed like Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal was all but a done deal, UFC President Dana White has now thrown a curveball at that potential title fight.
For the past few months, Usman and Masvidal appeared to be on a collision course with White originally teasing that matchup for International Fight Week in July.
While the timing may have changed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which forced the UFC to radically reschedule their calendar, it still looked that fight was a lock to happen later this year.
Now the UFC might be discussing another option for the first and only “BMF” champion.
“We’re talking about a few different things,” White told ESPN when asked about Usman vs. Masvidal. “We have something else interesting for Masvidal that we were just talking about yesterday. We’ll see. We’ll see how this whole thing plays out.
“To start speculating down the road now is too soon. Let’s get by these three fights in Florida and then we’ll figure out what’s next. We’re talking about different possibilities with those guys.”
According to sources close to Masvidal when speaking to MMA Fighting on Friday, no discussions have taken place about a different opponent yet but obviously White said this idea just popped up recently during internal discussions.
Following his win over Nate Diaz this past November, Masvidal first targeted Conor McGregor as his next opponent but he then moved on from that matchup to put his full attention on Usman and the welterweight title.
Usman and Masvidal both tried to jump into a short-notice fight against each other back in April but the entire event was later scrapped. The welterweights have been engaged in a heated back-and-forth war of words for several months including an altercation during media day ahead of the Super Bowl in January.
At this time, nothing has been decided but it appears the UFC is at least considering alternate opponents for Usman and Masvidal rather than matching them up in a welterweight title fight.
Source: MMAfighting.com
