Dana White hails ‘massive star’ Jorge Masvidal after UFC Fight Island defeat to Kamaru Usman

Dana White has hailed ‘massive star’ Jorge Masvidal for his part in the headline UFC Fight Island clash with Kamaru Usman which pulled in a huge 1.3million pay-per-view buys.

The success of UFC 251, the mixed martial arts company’s maiden event since lockdown on Saturday, was justification for their massive investment in securing four behind-closed-doors events on the island in Dubai.

Masvidal’s highly-anticipated last-minute challenge of Usman, in which headlined a card with two other title fights and a host of other high-quality match-ups. 

Dana White has hailed Jorge Masvidal as ‘massive star’ for his part in successful ‘Fight Island’

The American stepped in at short notice to challenge Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title

UFC president White highlighted Masvidal’s key role in the event’s success in and overall popularity in the post-fight press conference, calling the welterweight standout a ‘star’.

The 35-year-old stepped in with six days notice to challenge Usman for the welterweight title to rescue the main event after Gilbert Burns was forced to pull out having tested positive for Covid-19.

‘I said it to you guys the other night, when you put on a fight, a successful promotion of an event, it’s a big melting pot of different things,’ White explained. ‘Fight Island’ was a massive star in this thing. Masvidal is a massive star. Obviously, Usman, the champion and a guy that we’re all start to realise is tough to beat and a great card underneath.

Usman secured a dominant victory but the UFC president says Masvidal has a bright future

Masvidal was a breakthrough star in 2019 after winning three straight feats through knock-out while also claiming the BMF title.

The positivity around how the event played out were sentiments echoed by White ahead of the next three this Wednesday and the next two Saturday’s on 18 and 25 July. 

‘It all came together perfectly. It was a major success. Everybody’s healthy. It’s all good. Literally not one negative thing that I could point out.’

‘It was a very successful event,’ White added, ‘We’re happy. The thing killed it across the board in every way you could possibly kill it. It was awesome. The thing did really well.’  

White was full of praise for the maiden event in Abu Dhabi ahead of the next three in July