Ahead of UFC 264, Dana White provided updates on numerous fighters.
On Tuesday, White spoke to UFC Arabia on the returns of Khamzat Chimaev, Tony Ferguson, Stipe Miocic, Nick Diaz, and other members of the roster, including upcoming title defenses for certain champions. The UFC president also revealed the location for UFC 266, as well as the latest on UFC Fight Night in London.
UFC 264 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
Check out the Q&A with Dana White before UFC 264 by scrolling through the items below:
What’s next for Tony Ferguson?
“We are talking about a fight for Tony right now. I can’t remember what it is, though, but Tony will fight again before the end of the year.”
Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington will take place in 2021
“Covington is the No. 1 contender, and I agree with you: I love the Burns-Thompson fight. It’s a very, very good fight, fun fight, but will not be for the No. 1 contender. “There’s a couple of dates we’re looking at (for Usman vs. Covington), so nothing’s done yet, but we’re working on it.”
With Derrick Lewis vs. Ciryl Gane, where does that leave Stipe Miocic?
“This is the fight that makes sense (Lewis vs. Gane) right now and again, Stipe after that fight (Ngannou), he’s getting up there in age, he needs some time to recover after fights like that, so I think it’s a perfect scenario. You got Lewis who beat Francis, Ciryl Gane who’s one of the up-and-coming guys, undefeated. They fight for the interim heavyweight championship and the winner will face Francis, and then the winner of that will probably end up facing Stipe.”
Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez
“I don’t know if we’re gonna rebook that. I can’t answer that question unfortunately. I don’t know yet.”
Nick Diaz latest
“We have nothing done yet, but I’m still optimistic. Listen, if he’s gonna fight again, it’ll be this year or never. There’s been communication, but there’s been nothing done yet.”
The return of Khamzat Chimaev
“We’re looking at him in October, too. He could fight anybody. At one point we had him fighting Leon Edwards. He could fight anybody, so I don’t know. Obviously Neil Magny is one of the guys that’s out there because of all the sh*t talk between the two of them, but we’ll see.”
Future of the UFC Apex?
“We’re still doing fight nights at the Apex. We’re talking about possibly doing VIP packaging for people to come in and watch those fights, so we’re working on a few different things with the Apex, but we like being here at the Apex.”
Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan rematch
Yes, definitely (that will be booked). Probably some time in October.”
Is Lauren Murphy next for Valentina Shevchenko?
“She is, and we wanted to make that fight. We were gonna do that fight, and Lauren wasn’t ready. Lauren said, ‘I want a real, good, proper training camp to get ready for her,’ so I don’t know when we’ll get that fight done, but we tried to make that fight already.”
Demian Maia’s future with the UFC
“I love Demian. He did finish his career in the UFC. He did. How old is Demian right now, 42, 43? At one point at the start of his last however many fights, he was ranked in the top five I think. Now he’s down around 11? It’s time to wrap it up.”
UFC London on Sept. 4?
“I don’t know yet. We’re still working on all that. … We want to go to London, yeah.”
UFC 266 location
“UFC 266, yeah that’s Vegas … T-Mobile.”
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