Jorge Masvidal will be ready to return to the Octagon in early 2023 and he hopes that No. 5 ranked welterweight Gilbert Burns will be the guy standing across from him.
Absent since his decisive loss to bitter rival Colby Covington at UFC 272, Jorge Masvidal has been linked to a potential bout with Burns over the past few months, though neither man has signed on the dotted line. Burns recently claimed that it was the fault of ‘Gamebred’ who had allegedly declined potential fights in November, December, and January.
In an interview with MMA Fighting, Jorge Masvidal responded to Burns’ claim, alleging that while the UFC did offer him the fight, he told them from day one that he would only accept a fight in March or April, once he’s had the opportunity to get healthy and take care of some lingering legal issues.
“From my end, this fight was offered, but never officially and I always just shut it down because I couldn’t fight. The dates that they said they wanted, I never said anything about I’ll fight anybody in November or December and I said if I’m ready, maybe I could go January if everything is right. I wasn’t ready, I told them that in like mid-November. I don’t know when they decided to tell Gilbert, ‘Hey, he’s not taking the January fight.’ This guy loses his sh*t like I ever promised him a dance.
“The only dance I promised was on March or April, whenever it is that Leon [Edwards] fights. That’s when I told these guys I’ll be ready by then. I could for a fact on March or April, so let’s go. I’ll put the world out there, tell Hunter [Campbell] and he freaking guess what? Sends on the contract to Gilbert. He says, ‘No, I don’t want to fight, I want to fight in Brazil.’ So go fight in Brazil. Just keep my name out of your mouth bro.
“Everytime he says my name he gets a couple thousand followers so I guess that’s the gimmick he’s doing. If he wants to fight, we’ll fight in March. We’ll fight in April. We’ll fight in London. That’s it. I don’t really like entertaining these idiots man. They could all go f*cking f*ck themselves, man. I’m here for me. When I’m healthy and ready, whenever it is, hopefully it’s a top five guy. If all of these guys got excuses and don’t want to go, whatever. I go to the next guy.”
Things Get Interesting When Jorge Masvidal and Leon Edwards Are in London Together
Jorge Masvidal’s preferred return date would be when the UFC heads back to London, rumored to be in the first quarter of 2023. UFC President Dana White has already confirmed that the event will be headlined by a rematch between current welterweight champion Leon Edwards and former titleholder Kamaru Usman.
The last time Leon Edwards and Jorge Masvidal were in London together, things got a little out of hand. Following his knockout of Darren Till at a UFC Fight Night event in March 2019, ‘Gamebred’ was backstage speaking with Laura Sanko when Edwards walked by, talking trash to Masvidal in the process. That prompted the self-proclaimed BMF Champion to walk over and throw a series of strikes that he later famously dubbed a ‘three-piece and a soda.’
With Leon Edwards now the UFC’s welterweight champion, Masvidal has been pushing hard for the long-awaited showdown between the two. Leon Edwards has gone on record saying that he’s still p*ssed off over the incident and plans to get revenge whether it’s in the street or the Octagon. Masvidal responded to the UFC champion in his interview with MMA Fighting, saying:
“For starters, when he’s says things like that, he’s just trying to, I don’t know, advocate to the coach or something. You’re not that dude. We’ve already did that right. You talk nonsense about me for weeks on end on Twitter talking sh*t. Just now when I pulled up, and you’ve been doing all that nonsense talking, you weren’t ready to go. Don’t nobody care what you would do in the streets because everybody know he’s gonna be a deer in headlights again.
“That street talk is just for him to appeal to the street and things like that because he’s a dork and he’s trying to do things like that, but I want to fight him in the cage. He’s got a belt wrapped around his waist so I want to go get these W’s and fight him and then take care of the things I gotta do before I’m done with my career.”
