Photo | UFC adds Jorge Masvidal to official UFC 251 poster

The UFC has updated the official UFC 251 poster to reflect the card’s new main event: a welterweight title fight between Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal.

See it below:

 

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And you didn’t think the island could get any bigger 🏝 #InAbuDhabi @VisitAbuDhabi #UFC251

A post shared by ufc (@ufc) on Jul 6, 2020 at 7:33am PDT

Masvidal was originally expected to be the next man in line for Usman. When he entered into a heated and highly publicized contract dispute with the UFC, however, the promotion booked a fight between Usman and Gilbert Burns at UFC 251. Burns then tested positive for COVID-19, at which point the UFC approached Masvidal about stepping in to fight Usman on short-notice. The fight was made official on Sunday night.

Masvidal has inked a brand new deal ahead of UFC 251, and seems to be satisfied with the terms.

“Me and my team know what I deserve,” Masvidal told ESPN ahead of UFC 251, opening up on his new UFC deal. “So when I got undercut and lowballed, alright, cool, no problem. We’ll see what happens. I told my manager and several people […] ‘watch, at the last moment, they’re going to call me back and some craziness is going to happen.’ I told several people that are very, very close to me, and bam, that’s exactly what happened.

“Now, I didn’t get exactly what I wanted, but it’s very, very close,” Masvidal added.

Jorge Masvidal has not fought since he captured the BMF title with a stoppage defeat of Nate Diaz at UFC 244 in November. This victory was preceded by a pair of highlight reel knockout wins over Ben Askren and Darren Till. His win over Askren, delivered with a flying knee, set the record for fastest knockout in UFC history at just five seconds.

Do you think he’ll capture the UFC welterweight title at UFC 251?