Rarely one to be devoid of drama, the UFC suffers another big change ahead of its first big fight on the UFC fight island as Gilbert Burns pulls out of the title fight against Kamaru Usman – Burns reportedly contracted COVID-19 and tested positive prior to his flight, and as such is unable to fight. This change has led to something very interesting happening, something that many fans have said should’ve been there from the start – as Gamebred steps in for his chance at UFC gold.
It’s safe to say that Jorge Masvidal and the UFC have been at odds recently as a recent number of disagreements around pay and value have come from Masvidals side, suggesting that he isn’t receiving his worth for the fights he has been doing – at one point even suggesting that he should be released from his contact if some middle ground couldn’t be found. It should be assumed that something had been worked out for this fight, but it’s also a win win for Gamebred whatever the outcome – if he is to lose, it sets up the possibility for a rematch that takes place with a full training camp as the current fight was accepted on a weeks notice, and if he does win the fight well then he has come in as a last minute replacement and beat the current champ.
The running favourite will still be with Usman, however, and the difficulty will definitely be on Masvidal – if things are able to remain standing then Gamebred will have a better chance with stronger striking, but many expect it to get to the ground quite quickly with Usman’s superior wrestling taking over, and given Usman has been training for someone with both a strong standup and ground game, lending him with the clear advantage over just a full training camp.
This does provide an opportunity for punters however, despite recent regulation changes that have placed a ban on credit card betting within the UK and the additional authority given to the gamstop scheme, a growing number of sports sites not on gamstop listed here will be providing some enticing odds for those looking to make a bet and if Masvidal is able to come out and pull a highlight knockout once again there is certainly a chance to win big.
The good news however is that all other fights that were schedule on the card are still set to take place – the other fighters have all had their COVID-19 test come back negative and arrived in Abu Dhabi to travel to the new Fight Island arena and fans will be excited to see the unveiling – following that there are also a number of follow events scheduled, combat sports fans are in for an exciting few weeks as the new location could open up a whole host of opportunities for MMA as a whole, and those opportunities will present themselves extremely quickly – with any hope, we can get rid of the poor judging and scoring, but that’s yet to be seen.