After throwing hands with some of Nate Diaz’s crew last month, Jorge Masvidal is ready to step in the ring and put on a “masterpiece” against his former BMF rival.
On Saturday night, ‘Gamebred’ will make his pro boxing debut as he steps inside the ring for a long-awaited rematch with Diaz inside the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Their fight will headline a stacked event airing on multiple platforms, including Fanmio, DAZN, and UFC FightPass.
Before strapping on the eight-ounce gloves, Masvidal spoke with UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping on the former middleweight champ’s YouTube channel to address all the drama that has surrounded their big boxing bout—specifically, last month’s press conference where Diaz infamously left the dais before the two could face-off as advertised.
“That sh*t just pissed me off,” Masvidal said of Diaz’s walk-off. “I flew all the way from Miami to L.A. to get the f*cking face-off and then all of a sudden he calls it off. We’re here to try and promote a fight and you’re just trying to look cool and be real.
“Face-offs are a part of fighting. I don’t want to do them either. I don’t want to stare at a motherf*cker for two minutes in the face, but it’s part of the business. We both signed the contract, we knew about the press tour before it happened, so it’s f*cking nuts.”
Of course, the real story of the press event was the ensuing brawl. Masvidal and his team found themselves in the middle of a scrap with Diaz’s crew shortly after the ‘Stockton Samurai’ fled the scene.
“Again, he pulls a stunt,” Masvidal said. “We’re talking back and forth and he says fight me here. I’m like alright and I’m making my way toward him. Bro, if you really want to throw down here, I’ve had just about enough. We can f*cking fight now. This fight’s been pushed back so much so we’ll give the audience something to look at and then he takes off.
“He’s taking off and talking sh*t and out of nowhere, one of his friends—some really stupid guy—comes and just shoves me as hard as he can, and then he takes off running. [It was] the most coward sh*t I’ve f*cking seen and then two guys attacked my coach, which he’s not a pro fighter. He’s in his mid-40s. You attack that guy out of all the people. There were two guys who had him on the ground about to end him so I had to step in there and, you know—a little bit of this, a little bit of that.”
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“It got broken up after that, but to me it’s coward sh*t, you’re gonna attack my coach when I’m right here,” he continued. “Nate started this whole brawl and then like a coward General, took off. A couple of his friends went to the hospital that day and that’s all on him. None of that needed to happen.”
Though he wasn’t able to get his hands on Diaz on that day, he’ll have the chance to do so in just a few short hours live on pay-per-view. As for how ‘Gamebred’ sees things playing out, Masvidal told Bisping:
“Man, I think I’m going to put on a masterpiece and I’m gonna knock this motherf*cker dead. I’m going to box his ears off and at some point, he’s going to make a mistake and I’m going to cash in on that mistake.
Jorge Masvidal Reveals Who He Hopes to Fight in UFC Return
Once Jorge Masvidal takes care of a bit of business in the squared circle, he has every intention of stepping back inside the Octagon, revealing that part of the deal with the UFC that allows him to box stipulates that he needs to do one more fight on MMA’s biggest stage.
“[After these three fights] back to the UFC,” Masvidal said. “The UFC said one of the conditions is that I come back and do one [more] fight, so that’s the plan, come back definitely do another fight, and from there, check the landscape out, see if I’m staying in the UFC or more than likely I’ll be coming back to boxing,” Masvidal said.
Recently, Masvidal revealed that a rematch with Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson is near the top of his list, but if he gets his wish, he’ll finally get the chance to deliver another three-piece and a soda to reigning welterweight champion, Leon Edwards.
“I would love to fight Leon [Edwards]. Hopefully, he still has the belt when I come back around, let’s see what happens man,” he added.
After KO’ing Darren Till at UFC on ESPN+ 5 in London, ‘Gamebred’ got into a backstage scuffle with Edwards who had lofted a disparaging remark in Masvidal’s direction while in the middle of a post-fight interview backstage. Masvidal quietly approached Edwards and threw a combination that he later dubbed a “three-piece and a soda.”
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The incident has become one of the more viral moments of Masvidal’s career, though he never got the chance to settle his beef with ‘Rocky’ inside the Octagon. Perhaps they’ll still have that chance once the former BMF titleholder tests out his skills in the sweet science.
Watch the full interview below:
