UFC President Dana White says he hopes to book a UFC welterweight title fight pitting champion Kamaru Usman against Jorge Masvidal for International Fight Week in July.
Usman and the newly-crowned “BMF” champion Masvidal almost came to blows at an NFL Super Bowl media day in Miami earlier in the week.
And it’s Miami, Masvidal’s hometown, which has been a particularly interesting factor in Masvidal’s surge to stardom in 2019 and the new decade for White.
“We haven’t had a fighter from Miami to embrace yet,” White told Jim Rome on “The Jim Rome Show” [H/T MMA Junkie]. “Since I got here, I went to dinner last night, I’ve been walking around – everybody’s yelling, ‘When’s Masvidal fighting in Miami?’ Not soon.
“We’re going to bring him to [Las] Vegas. Him and Usman will fight in Vegas, probably International Fight Week [in July]. If he wins, maybe we’ll do his first title defence down here in Miami.”
White said the semi-announcement, made before the fight has been finalised, was made earlier than expected due to the midweek verbal confrontation between Usman and Masvidal.
“That was the plan, and whatever happened with them [Wednesday] – we hadn’t announced it yet, but now this has forced me to announce it,” White said.
According to MMA Junkie, International Fight Week is expected to coincide with UFC 252 on 11 July. As for the venue, with it being the UFC heading to Las Vegas, it’s likely that UFC 252 would take place in the T-Mobile Arena.
