Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Dana White says the UFC could host Conor McGregor vs. Jorge Masvidal on Fight Island.
UFC president Dana White revealed last week that Jorge Masvidal is likely out of his proposed welterweight title fight with Kamaru Usman and that the UFC is working on an ‘interesting’ alternative for the BMF titleholder.
White didn’t reveal the specifics but hinted at a possible matchup with former UFC two-division champ Conor McGregor on Fight Island.
“Very good point. That’s a possibility too,” White said when asked about the possibility of McGregor-Masvidal on The Menace and The Man podcast on Monday (h/t Chisanga Malata of The Express).
With that said, White still believes Kamaru Usman is the fight that makes the most sense for ‘Gamebred’ right now.
“The Usman fight is the fight that makes sense,” White said. “It’s the fight that needs to happen if Masvidal wants a title shot.
“But, yeah, there’s another interesting fight out there for him right now.”
He did clarify later on with Jim Rome that just because McGregor-Masvidal is a possibility doesn’t mean it’ll actually happen next.
“People are writing stories like I said yesterday that we’re going to do Conor vs. Masvidal. I never said that,” White said. “The guys that I was doing an interview with were pushing me on that fight and I’m like yeah it’s interesting. Anything is possible.
“I didn’t say that was the fight that was going to happen. People are writing that today but not true.”
White knows Masvidal vs. McGregor would be a huge fight but believes a McGregor-Khabib rematch would be ‘massive’.
“I think Conor-Khabib is a massive fight; Conor against anybody is a massive fight. Tony and Khabib, if that thing can happen it’s a massive fight,” he said.
White hasn’t revealed a specific date or location for Fight Island but the longtime fight promoter expects the Island to be up and running by June.