The Fight Island era of UFC events is off to a rocky start as Gilbert Burns has tested positive for COVID-19 and is out of his planned UFC 251 main event with Kamaru Usman, UFC Hall of Famer and CBS Sports HQ analyst Rashad UFC 251 Live Stream Evans has confirmed. The news comes just one week before the fighters were set to square off in a main event clash for Usman’s UFC welterweight championship.
According to ESPN, the featherweight championship rematch between champion Alexander Volkanovski and former titleholder Max Holloway, originally scheduled as the co-headliner, will serve as the new main event of UFC 251 on Saturday, July 11.
Burns had become something of a poster-boy for the UFC’s COVID era, emerging victorious in bouts against Demian Maia and former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley to earn his shot at Usman and the welterweight title at UFC 251. The pair are longtime teammates, but when financial negotiations broke down between the UFC and Jorge Masvidal, Burns got the call for a third fight in a five-month stretch.After a training camp in Florida, Burns and his camp flew to Las Vegas, one of four “hub cities” from which fighters will fly to Abu Dhabi for the four events on what the UFC has dubbed “Fight Island.” Upon arrival in Las Vegas, Burns, his brother Herbert and one of his coaches reportedly tested positive for the virus.
Upon Burns being pulled from the event, Usman also did not board his flight to Abu Dhabi with uncertainty swirling over whether the fight will be rescheduled or if the UFC would manage to pull a replacement opponent to challenge for the welterweight championship.
At the moment, with little time to spare, rescheduling may be an option on the table with two big names offering up their services. Jorge Masvidal’s manager revealed to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani that the reigning “BMF” champion is willing to accept the shot against Usman for the welterweight title on a week’s notice. Meanwhile, former interim welterweight champ Colby Covington, who lost to Usman in a main-event classic at UFC 245 last December, said that he’s willing to head to Abu Dhabi next week for either a rematch with Usman or a long-awaited grudge bout with Masvidal.
We can start by agreeing that yes, stranger things have happened in MMA. The UFC has pulled enough rabbits out of its hat over the years that if it really wants to achieve something, there are few things that will stand in the way of making it happen.
Under normal circumstances, finding a replacement opponent to challenge Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title on seven days’ notice would be a difficult, but possible feat. As MMA Junkie first reported, Gilbert Burns’ positive COVID-19 test caused him to be pulled from the event one week out and left Usman without a challenger.As we all know, though, these are far from normal circumstances. The offers from Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington to fight Usman on this short of notice are good for headlines, social media graphics and getting fans to show deeper support for their badassery, but it’s also deeply unrealistic and would be almost impossible to pull off.
First and foremost, let’s keep in mind that Usman didn’t even get on the plane to Abu Dhabi that departed Las Vegas on Friday evening. Given the amount of travel time involved and the mandatory quarantine procedures in place amid the coronavirus pandemic, with athletes and teams needing to lock down for 48 hours on each side of travel, that essentially UFC 251 Live rules Usman ineligible to fight July 11 at UFC 251.Let’s hypothesize for an instant that UFC could work around that, though. There’s another charter plane to Abu Dhabi on Monday for the fighters slated to compete on the UFC’s July 15 event, and maybe the promotion could find a way to get Usman on it without breaking protocols. If so, who does he fight?
Masvidal’s manager, Abe Kawa of First Round Management, told ESPN on Saturday that the “BMF” champ is “absolutely willing” to fight Usman on short notice. The unspoken end to that quote, however, likely reads, “for X amount of money.” Most originally wanted Masvidal to be Usman’s opponent at UFC 251, but it didn’t get done because of a contract dispute between “Gamebred” and the UFC brass.
Perhaps the UFC is desperate enough to dig into its pockets and pay Masvidal what he’s wants, but that doesn’t seem likely. Masvidal vs. Usman is a highly anticipated fight, and it would be a disservice to everyone involved to trot it out there on short notice. There’s a lot of discontent between the two fighters and the UFC would surely want to maximize that with proper promotion. If the entire event was based around Usman headlining, then maybe there would be more leverage for Masvidal to get what he wants, but lest not forget there are two more title fights on the card, and Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway 2 is a more than suitable pay-per-view main event.
A similar argument goes for Covington, who told UFC to call him with the fight. He would almost certainty want something extra for saving the day. Is that juice worth the squeeze for UFC? Covington just lost to Usman in December, and although it was an incredible fight, in which Covington had gripes with how referee Marc Goddard worked it, Covington was ultimately finished. How badly do people want to see that again?
In addition to all that, getting Masvidal or Covington through all the health and safety measures in time for fight night would be a rush at best. Both men live in the COVID-19 hotbed that is the state of Florida, which is the same place Burns originated ahead of UFC 251.
At the end of the day, this is a situation in which Masvidal and Covington can try to flex about their willingness to compete, with no backlash. Would they fight Usman in one weeks’ time if everything came together perfect? Certainly. But there are just simply too many obstacles, and therefore an empty volunteering of services.The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, https://ufc251news.com expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.
