Dana White announces several upcoming main event fights, confirms Gilbert Burns vs. Belal Muhammad for UFC 288

Dana White took to social media and announced several key fights for a number of upcoming UFC events.

White took to Instagram Live to reveal some key fights and among them was Gilbert Burns vs. Belal Muhammad, which is slated for five rounds as the new co-main event of UFC 288 on May 6. The fight could serve as a title eliminator which is why it is five rounds, but it’s a big boost to the pay-per-view card which recently lost Oliveira-Dariush.

As for Charles Oliveira vs. Beneil Dariush, White confirmed that the fight will now serve as the co-main event of UFC 289 on June 10 in Vancouver. Dariush has said that was the plan after Oliveira suffered a minor injury but now it is official. The main event of UFC 289 sees Amanda Nunes takes on Julianna Pena in their trilogy fight.

Along with the two co-main events for the upcoming pay-per-views, Dana White announced some new main events. Starting with the main event of June 17 at the UFC Apex, Marvin Vettori will take on Jared Cannonier. Vettori is coming off a win over Roman Dolidze and is ranked third at middleweight. Cannonier, meanwhile, is ranked fourth and is coming off a decision win over Sean Strickland back in December. White also revealed the winner will be on a short list to face Israel Adesanya.

Then, in the main event of July 1 at the UFC Apex, White announced that Sean Strickland will take on Abus Magomedov. Strickland is ranked seventh at middleweight and coming off a decision win over Nassourdine Imavov in January. Magomedov, meanwhile, is unranked but White says nobody wanted to fight him until Strickland took the fight. Magomedov is 25-4-1 and 1-0 in the UFC as he knocked out Dustin Stolzfus in 19 seconds back in September.

Dana White concluded the video by confirming the UFC will be returning to London, England for a Fight Night event on July 22. The event was supposed to be a pay-per-view, but Leon Edwards is not available to fight and so the promotion has turned it into a Fight Night.

What are your thoughts on these fights announced by Dana White?