Jorge Masvidal will be making his long-awaited return to the UFC against Gilbert Burns at UFC 287.
One of the biggest stars in the UFC, Jorge Masvidal is finally getting ready to return to action. The former welterweight title contender will be facing another title contender, Gilbert Burns as the co-main event of the upcoming UFC 287 event. It has been almost a year since the last time Masvidal fought inside the Octagon. A lot has been happening in his private life that has kept him from competing.
Masvidal was arrested back in March, following his last bout. He was involved in an incident with his former opponent Colby Covington in which he assaulted Covington and was charged by Miami police. The court case associated with that arrest is scheduled for February. Despite the setback, Masvidal is now moving forward with his fighting career.
Jorge Masvidal gives some details on why he was been out of competition for so long
Masvidal has had a lot to deal with over the past year. He is one of the most popular fighters on the roster and he has a very large fan following. Many people were anxious to see him back but Masvidal wanted to make sure he had his life in order first. He spoke about this while on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.
“A bunch of things, man, I won’t say the exact injuries but injuries and felonies and lawsuits and a bunch of crazy sh-t,” he said. “I just didn’t want to go into a fight with all these outside f–king bullsh-t on my head you know what I’m saying? So I was like, let me get my ducks in a row, let me get a couple things in place, let me get my health right, let me get my conditioning a little bit better. All this time I’ve just been training on certain things that maybe my conditioning hasn’t been the best in the past or trying to get a little better here to look better there.”
Masvidal was not able to give too many details on the trial or charges he is facing since the case is still ongoing, but he did take some to call out Covington. He called him a “bi-ch” and said he was not surprised that he has not fought since their last meeting. As for Masvidal, he said he is fighting because he wants to, he wants to get back in the cage and chose Burns because he felt it was a good matchup for him with not too much wrestling involved.
“Not have so much clouds over my f–king head before I stepped back in that ring,” he said. “I love what I do. I love to compete. I don’t fight because I’m living check to check, I fight because I love to fight. When I step in, I’m not in a rush and I want to have the best time of my life but also I don’t want to be fighting with a gun to my head, you know, facing all these charges that are found on this bullsh-t that I got going on.”
Masidal has not won a fight since 2019 when he defeated Nate Diaz for the BMF belt. He has now lost three in a row. Masivdal is currently ranked 11th in the division, Burns is ranked 5th.
UFC 287 is slated for April 8 and although not announced just yet, could be taking place in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The event will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between champion Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya.
