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A couple of weeks ago, now, Dana White dropped in on social media for an impromptu fan Q&A. Alongside some chatter about Kayla Harrison’s recent signing and White’s belief that she would have no trouble making the bantamweight limit, the UFC CEO teased that a major announcement was on the horizon.
“You’ll get the main event when I’m ready to give you the main event,” White said, speaking of UFC 300. “I’ve been squeezing them out one by one. When I’m ready to give you the main event you’ll get it. You’re not ready yet. You can’t handle the main event.”
UFC wiffs on Super Bowl announcement
If Dana White was playing coy back in late January, it seemed like the stars were aligning for a major announcement this past Sunday at the Super Bowl. Word got out that he was scheduled to appear in a 30-second spot during the game, and fans couldn’t help but assume that the UFC 300 main event would drop then and there in front of millions of sports fans gathered to watch the Kansas City Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers.
Instead all they got was a beer commercial. Another piece of Bud Light’s image rehab campaign, hoping to ride the coattails of the UFC’s increasing drive for conservative viewers.
Jon Jones reveals UFC booking woes
So what happened? Where’s the big fight? A couple pieces of information have dropped in the last few hours that reveal just where the UFC is in their attempts to find the right ‘major’ headliner what was expected to be one of the year’s biggest PPVs. Most notably, and despite his recent shoulder injury, the UFC tried to get Jon Jones to take on Tom Aspinall in a heavyweight title unification bout. Jones turned them down he revealed in a recent Submission Radio interview.
“I got a call from [UFC Chief Business Officer] Hunter Campbell, one of the head lawyers of the UFC, he said, ‘Jon, I know it’s only nine weeks away, but if there’s any chance you’re feeling up to it, it would be awesome news for the community that you’re coming back and headlining one of the biggest events ever,’” Jones said. “And, as honored as I am for the opportunity, I just don’t think I’ll be ready. I just don’t.
“So, I’m getting up there in age and I only have a few more events left, and I want to give those events my all and make sure that I come back 100 percent.”
What’s more, Tom Aspinall has since revealed that he was offered a fight against Stipe Miocic for the main event as well, but that Miocic declined the bout.
UFC hoping for Khamzat Chimaev vs. Leon Edwards
The other tidbit about the UFC’s booking struggle comes from longtime MMA Hour host Ariel Helwani. On a recent episode of his long-running interview show, Helwani revealed that he had heard the UFC has four go-to options that they’re pursuing for the UFC headliner.
“My understanding is that there are four options,” Helwani stated. “Two-and-a-half of them are pretty understandable… and then there’s one that I think people will be like, ‘Oh, okay!?’… Obviously we know that Leon [Edwards] and Belal [Muhammad] was something that was discussed. But, it seems like they really don’t want that fight at 300 for whatever reason. I think that’s their last resort…
“[Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus du Plessis] is obviously something that’s been discussed, and been hinted at by both. And for the longest time I thought, ‘Okay, maybe this is the one—and I would think is the one that makes the most sense.’ I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being that, but again, also, the clock is ticking; DDP a little bit banged up after the Strickland fight…
“And then we get to the sort of left field, rabbit in the hat, if you will. Right now, I think, if the UFC had their way—if they could snap their fingers and make the biggest fight in their mind happen, and the fight that they’ve been working on happen, and have their say as to what is the main event of UFC 300—I think they would make Leon Edwards vs. Khamzat Chimaev.
“I believe… that when Dana White is talking about the hurdles and the issues and the different things at play in terms of making this fight and how troublesome it has been? I believe that’s securing Khamzat’s ability to fight in the United States.”
Long-time Bloody Elbow readers know exactly why Chimaev won’t be able to fight in the US as Karim Zidan reported a while back.
“In December 2020, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued sanctions targeting Kadyrov and his Akhmat MMA fight club.
“According to the OFAC, the measures against Kadyrov and Akhmat MMA are broadly designed to prohibit “any contribution or provision of funds, goods or services by, to or for the benefit of any blocked person or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods or services from any such person.”
Helwani went on to add that the UFC might also be considering Chimaev vs. du Plessis and to make it clear that none of these are hard and fast plans—merely speculation based on conversations he’s had with people close to the situation. All of it seems pretty believable though. Chimaev is a fighter that the UFC has envisioned as a major star clearly for the last several years, but has been hampered both by injury woes and visa issues.
Unfortunately for fans, assuming the UFC can’t get Chimaev back stateside, and assuming that DDP vs. Adesanya isn’t about to happen (or it likely would already have been announced), it seems more and more probable that fans will end up with Edwards vs. Muhammad as the UFC 300 headliner. A well deserved title shot for the Roufusport talent, but hardly the kind of booking to light the MMA world on fire.
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