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With the planned title fight with Kamaru Usman called off, Dana White is now looking at other options for Jorge Masvidal.
In late January, Dana White revealed plans about having Jorge Masvidal challenge Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title. The fight was scheduled to headline UFC 252, which takes place on International Fight Week in Las Vegas this July.
But after major shake-ups over the last few months, that fight is now off the table. Without delving into specifics, the UFC president told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto on Friday that the organization is instead looking at other options for “Gamebred.”
“We’re talking about a few different things,” White said (transcript by MMA Junkie). “We have something else interesting for Masvidal, too, that we were just talking about (Thursday). We’ll see.”
With three cards lined up for May and “Fight Island” events likely for June, White is unsure where Masvidal fits into the UFC’s schedule.
“We’ll see how this whole thing plays out – locations and how fast. To start speculating down the road right now is too soon,” he said. “Let’s get by these three fights in Florida and we’ll figure out what’s next. We’re talking about different possibilities with those guys.”
Masvidal had a stellar year in 2019. After stopping Darren Till in March, he dealt Ben Askren his first career loss via a five-second flying knee KO. He capped off the year with a third-round TKO win against Nate Diaz in November to become the UFC’s first and only “BMF” champion.