Dana White Says Conor McGregor is a “Possibility” For Jorge Masvidal’s Next Fight

Last week Dana White buzzed the MMA world by reporting Kamaru Usman might not be Jorge Masvidal’s next fight after all. The comments sparked speculation that White could be talking about a scrap between “Gamebred” and Conor McGregor.

So, is that what White meant? Possibly…

White says Usman – Masvidal still makes “sense”

While talking about Masvidal’s next bout last week with ESPN, White relayed that the UFC has something “interesting” for the welterweight, other than a title shot.

“We’re talking about a few different things,” White said. “We have something else interesting for Masvidal, too, that we were just talking about (Thursday). We’ll see.”

“We’ll see how this whole thing plays out – locations and how fast,” White said. “To start speculating down the road right now is too soon.

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.”

Since Masvidal pushed for a bout with McGregor for quite some time, speculation regarding that match-up spiked again.

But, while appearing on the “Menace and The Man Show”  podcast, White had this to say about his recent comments (quote via MMA Junkie).

“No, 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 there’s another interesting fight out there for him right now.”

When asked about Masvidal throwing hands with McGregor on “Fight Island” and defending the BMF title, White said this.

“(That’s a) very good point,” White said. “That’s a possibility, too.”

Where does this leave things?

So, it’s kind of hard to say what the plan is here. Reading between the lines, it almost sounds like Usman – Masvidal is the second choice right now for “Gamebred’s” next bout. But, clearly White doesn’t want to diminish that match-up either. 

And if it’s not McGregor, could it be Nick Diaz or Colby Covington? The latter two reside in the U.S. and right now, on account of the coronavirus, that makes bouts with them much more likely than a fight with Ireland’s McGregor.

The other question here is, if Masvidal does end up fighting someone else, what’s the plan for Usman? Could the UFC be thinking about giving Covington an immediate rematch after all? Who was stopped by Usman in December?

And if not, what is the plan for Usman? It would be somewhat surprising if the promotion opted to keep the welterweight title on the shelf for another 4-6 months.