Leon Edwards will finally step into the Octagon for his long-awaited welterweight title opportunity at UFC 278 when he faces ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ Kamaru Usman.
While speaking with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, ‘Rocky’ was asked who he would like to face should he walk out of Salt Lake City with UFC gold wrapped around his waist.
“The perfect scenario is Jorge [Masvidal]. Let him go get [a] few wins and that will be the perfect scenario, back where it started in London.”
The “back where it started” comment references an incident from a UFC Fight Night card in London. On March 16, 2019, Jorge Masvidal scored a second-round knockout over Darren Till in the evening’s main event. Following the victory, ‘Gamebred’ was in the middle of a post-fight interview backstage when Edwards walked by and said something, taking Masvidal’s attention. Masvidal walked away from the interview, his hands nonchalantly behind his back, and approached Edwards. Masvidal then threw multiple strikes in what he later dubbed a “three-piece and a soda.”
Edwards wants a piece of Masvidal, this time in the Octagon 👊 #UFC278
(via @bokamotoESPN) pic.twitter.com/o5FsllRda0
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 18, 2022
Jorge Masvidal spoke with ESPN shortly after the incident to get his side of what exactly transpired between himself and Leon Edwards that evening.
“I’m walking up to him, I’ve got my hands behind my back to signal I’m not coming here for problems. But he put his hands up like this — it’s on video — and walks towards me. Well, where I’m from, if you do that, you’re going to punch me in the face, and that’s not going to happen. You’re a (expletive) dork; you’re JV, beta. You are what you are. You’re just a loser in life. You’re not going to get a hit off me. So I gave him the three-piece with a soda, and then just glide out of there.”
While a fight between ‘Gamebred’ and ‘Rocky’ would be an easy sell given their history, Masvidal has some work to do before the UFC can justify putting him in that position, should Edwards become the new welterweight champion on Saturday night. Masvidal has lost in his last three outings, though two of those were against ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ himself while the other was in a grudge match with welterweight gatekeeper Colby Covington.
Jorge Masvidal Has a History of Going Rogue
Most professional fighters live by a set of rules that encourage them to keep the combat inside the cage. Jorge Masvidal lives by a different set of rules. He showed that in March when he allegedly launched a sneak attack on rival Colby Covington as ‘Chaos’ was dining in a Miami restaurant. Initial reports indicated that Covington suffered a chipped tooth and an abrasion on his wrist, but recent reports suggest Covington may have suffered a brain injury in the attack.
UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier touched on the subject on his ESPN show ‘DC & RC‘ saying, “Colby Covington is dealing with some serious injuries from being brutally attacked on the street by Jorge Masvidal.”
UFC President Dana White was none too happy hearing the news of Masvidal’ss attack but seemed to somewhat justify the actions suggesting that Covington broke a “man code” in his trash-talk of Masvidal ahead of their UFC 272 grudge match.
“Obviously, I don’t condone guys getting into fights in the street, and I hate everything about it,” White told TMZ Sports. “But again, this is a business where I’m gonna fight you and there’s a certain level of what I believe is man code where you don’t talk about people’s families, you don’t talk bout the kids and you don’t talk bout their wives.”
Jorge Masvidal has since plead innocent on all charges associated with the alleged attack. His trial date is currently scheduled for August 29th.
