So, the UFC has booked Jorge Masvidal-Kamaru Usman II for next month in Jacksonville. A rematch like that should seem like a pretty big deal. Instead it kind of feels…what’s the right word?

Catered.

Part of the problem with the UFC welterweight division is that it’s full of finicky cats that only want to sup from stemmed crystal. You have to admit that it’s a little unusual that the champion, Usman, is seemingly the only one willing to fight anyone, yet the contenders themselves aren’t feeling the challenge of their closest ranking buddies. That division is a big fat matchtease that saunters around acting like it’s going to liven up, yet we keep settling for decent fights in lieu of other more desirable ones.

For example, a Colby Covington fight with Masvidal is almost too perfect. They used to be good friends and got up to some pretty good shenanigans when on the road together. They are former training partners, old running dawgs, they had some wild times together. The lead-up to a Covington-Masvidal fight would be a tabloid sensation, because it’s full of deep emotion and traitorous longings. I mean, it’s the perfect No. 1 contender bout.

But noooo.

That fight just can’t materialize. Masvidal doesn’t want it. Covington wants Usman again. And Usman didn’t help things by taking the unusual step of calling out Masvidal after beating Gilbert Burns at UFC 258. Given Masvidal’s Heffner-like cult status, maybe he saw that as the biggest payday. Or maybe he really did feel bad that he beat Masvidal on less than a week’s notice the first time and wants to demonstrate that whether it’s one week, five weeks, or a thousand weeks of training, it won’t matter. 

Why? Because a determined wrestler always plays “Lunatic Fringe” over the key scenes in Scarface. Always. Usman believes he can do what he did the first time again and again (and again). And so does the public at large. That’s why the fight feels super unnecessary from a timing standpoint. Had Masvidal took out Covington? Maybe it’s a different story. But this fight was made on cult fumes, and now it’s Usman’s job to deflate whatever is left of Masvidal’s mojo.

Then there’s Leon Edwards, the eternal Man In The Wings. Edwards woke up on Saturday morning believing he was 100 percent guaranteed a title fight with Usman if he could only beat Belal Muhammad later that night. That happened, right before it didn’t. Edwards was masterful in the first round, busting open a cut on Muhammad’s head and sniping him from all over, but a second-round eye poke ended all that. The dreaded “no contest,” always in quotes.

About 40 hours later, Dana White was promoting Masvidal-Usman II via his Twitter feed, and Edwards — who lobbied for a title shot despite the foul — was right back in the queue. Edwards just can’t seem to break through, and nor can he even catch a fight with a guy in the top five. Remember, Covington was offered a fight with Edwards on three week’s notice, but Covington — seeing Edwards as a relevant nobody — turned it down.* He wants Usman. Usman got Masvidal. And Edwards? He doesn’t necessarily want a top-five fighter. He wants a title.

From the sidelines through all of this is Stephen Thompson. With Edwards’ “no contest,” his name was brought up as a possibility to face Usman next. Wonderboy actually holds a win over Masvidal, though that feat — because that was nearly three-and-a-half years ago — provided him no inside track to anything.

In an ideal world, maybe Thompson takes on Burns next. Poor Burns is out there just trying to land a fight. He was last seen emitting from a remote Twitter tower on March 13, writing simply, “June? I’m in anyone??”

Yeah, two question marks. How’s that for lonely?

Then again, such a scenario would require Wonderboy actually wanting to fight him. And right now in at the top of the welterweight division, nobody seems all that inclined to fight anybody unless that man’s name is Usman. Masvidal won that grim sweepstakes this time through, so he gets next. I guess that’s a big deal.

Though I can’t help but feel it’s not nearly as big as it could’ve been.

(*He was a little “jammed up,” as Chael Sonnen told Ariel Helwani on “Ariel and the Bad Guy” this week)