This is a head shaking decision from uncle Dana after he promised that the winner of Belal vs. Burns would challenge Leon Edward. However, I speculate that American politics might have influenced this decision. Uncle Dana is an outspoken Trump supporter and Colby also is another ourspoken Trump supporter. The presidential election will be on November heheehe. Perfect for the UFC's campaign for Trump if Colby is the welterweight champion hehehehe.
Did he really promise that? Say what you want about White, but I think he has a good record of sticking to his word.
I don't think similar political sympathies would play a major factor here. Covington is ranked higher than Belal and has way higher PPV potential so it definitely makes more sense, and I'm sure Edwards wouldn't mind that either, as it means a bigger payout.
Plus, they're fighting in Dec 2023 and the next US election is indeed in Nov, but 2024
It was said Conor waited 6 months for USADA's go signal but no result. So Dana went ahead to decided to cut ties with USADA since it's making his business unprofitable. He'd been eager to put Conor in the cage for a while. Now he wants to pay a private entity to do the Athlete testing. Cancel culture is very common among Trump supporters these days, maybe it's true. Conor though is not yet scheduled to fight, but he does want this Dec.
Volk is now the highest-paid fighter in UFC after his short notice against Islam. It must be encouraging now to just say Yes if you are one of the backup fighters.