Negotiations for next week’s UFC welterweight title fight Kamaru Usman against Jorge Masvidal are done, sources said, and both fighters have agreed on the terms to compete on Saturday at UFC 251 on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. .
That’s a massive hurdle cleared for the promotion, which worked to salvage Usman’s presence on the card after Gilbert Burns was forced to retire on Friday night. But it’s not the only hurdle left to overcome in an effort to make this fight a reality next weekend.
At the time of this writing, Usman was heading to Las Vegas, while Masvidal, who flew from South Florida to Las Vegas in a private jet, landed earlier in the day.
Once in Las Vegas, both fighters must check in at the host hotel, get a coronavirus test, and then be quarantined while they wait for the results. If they pass the test, they will be cleared to fly to Abu Dhabi, probably on Monday. If they don’t, the fight cannot and will not happen.
For the past two months, the UFC and Masvidal have been far apart in contract talks for this fight to happen. In the end, the UFC decided to walk away from the negotiations about a month ago and gave the title fight to Burns, who recently beat former champion Tyron Woodley.
Subsequently, Masvidal posted a series of tweets criticizing the UFC for its business practices, questioning whether the relationship would break for some time. But once Burns was ousted from the card on Friday night, momentum began to develop for the original plan, which is a coincidence of rancor that has been brewing for months. Usman and Masvidal have been embroiled in a heated fight that saw the duo enter a shouting match in the Miami Super Bowl media row earlier this year.
On Saturday afternoon, Usman tweeted, “It may be time for the pig to squeal,” while Masvidal’s co-director posted a series of Instagram stories showing Masvidal on the phone with the caption “negotiating.”
Of course, these days it’s not as simple as just accepting a fight. Masvidal took and passed a coronavirus antibody test on Saturday afternoon. That test shows whether an individual has been exposed to the coronavirus in the past, but it does not determine whether someone currently has the virus. So, at least one obstacle was cleared then. If the fight is finally signed, they’ll have to pass three more coronavirus tests before fight night, just like all the fighters competing in Abu Dhabi this month.
Masvidal is considered one of the most popular fighters in the sport, and many believe he was the 2019 fighter of the year after taking impressive victories over Darren Till, Ben Askren and Nate Diaz. In addition to the welterweight title fight, the card also features Alexander Volkanovski against Max Holloway 2 for the featherweight title and Petr Yan against Jose Aldo for the bantamweight title.
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