Jorge Masvidal is aware that he’s on many people’s radars. The feeling is mutual.
Masvidal looks to return as soon as he can following a unanimous decision loss to rival Colby Covington in the main event of UFC 272 this past March. “Gamebred” has been called out by multiple fighters since that bout, most notably Conor McGregor, Leon Edwards, and Gilbert Burns — the latter being the fighter most consistently calling Masvidal’s name.
In Masvidal’s eyes, they all make sense in some manner, but not more than the other superstar.
” The one that makes most sense is the little b **** Conor,” Masvidal said to MMA Fighting. I would be happy to get a big paycheck for beating this midget. It’s possible, but I’m not sure.
“Gilbert is logical, but Leon has been calling me left and right, saying that he wants me to defend my title. Let’s get on with it, let’s go to England and defeat your ass .”
Burns has been vocal about fighting Masvidal following his Fight of the Year contender with Khamzat Chimaev at April’s UFC 273 event, where he dropped a competitive and entertaining decision. “Durinho” has been targeting UFC 281, which is scheduled to take place Nov. 10 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
While Masvidal would be down to return this year, he isn’t sure if that is possible as he’s facing multiple felony charges for allegedly attacking Covington outside a Miami Beach restaurant in March. The trial for that case begins later this month.
“I want to fight Gilbert — but is it going to be this year, is it going to be next year? I don’t know,” Masvidal said. Masvidal said, “I have to get well. Also, I don’t want to sound like a Debbie Downer. But, I have legal matters I need to address and take care of. Then I will be back at the crime scene. They’ve charged me with three felonies. So I need to handle this, then it’s back to breaking faces.”
The winner of the inaugural “BMF” title fight also has expressed interest in fighting Chimaev — who is scheduled to face Nate Diaz, the man Masvidal defeated for that title, at UFC 279 — in the future once the undefeated standout ‘starts selling pay-per-views.’ Although he’s aware it may take some time to get back to some of the top names in the division such as Usman and Covington, Masvidal believes he will find a way to get another crack at both.
“Right at the moment, I don’t worry about him. He can do what the f*** wants,” Masvidal said. “He’s not going to necessarily put money in my pocket right now. However, the ones who are, f ****** Leon and Conor, are those guys that will give me some f ****** coins. I would like to smash their heads up first.
” I’ll continue to work on my wrestling and then return after the two f ****** grapplers. I have fought wrestlers and I would be happy to fight Leon (who isn’t a wrestler) or Gilbert, who’s a Jiu-jitsu man. While I am not wrestling wrestlers I would like to continue my training in wrestling and get back into it. [I’ll go back and] again fight the same wrestlers, and f ****** finish them .”
