One of the reasons Jorge Masvidal has become so popular — in Ben Askren’s own words — is because of how authentic he is. That is also why Masvidal is not a fan of Kamaru Usman or Colby Covington.
Masvidal takes on Usman for the welterweight title on six days’ notice when they clash in the UFC 251 headliner this Saturday in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. It’s obvious to most that the pair do not like each other.
And according to Masvidal, it all stems from Usman being a fake individual.
“I think mainly because he’s just an idiot,” Masvidal told BT Sport when asked where the animosity came from. “He doesn’t know how to promote himself in the space without having to dim somebody else’s light. Just having to be negative all the f*cking time, towards everybody and I’m not for it.
“I remember like years ago when we first met, he’s asking for pictures when we met through The Ultimate Fighter, and two years later he’s tweeting sh*t to me, talking sh*t to me, saying I turned down a fight with him. I never had even got an offer, I was in Exatlon in a f*cking jungle, I never even got the offer to fight you. F*cking moron.”
Masvidal: Usman, Covington Are Twitter Champions
Masvidal then compared Usman to Covington, who he also has his fair share of problems with.
Things may even be more personal given that Masvidal and Covington used to be friends, roommates and training partners until they embarked in a war of words against each other.
But when it comes down to it, “Gamebred” believes the pair are just Conor McGregor wannabes who look to promote fights even when there is no animosity involved.
“He’s [Usman] the biggest Twitter champ that we’ve had besides the other guy with the fragile jaw that wears the red hats,” Masvidal added. “They’re the champions of Twitter. It’s just something I don’t like. I get it if the beef is genuine, but these guys go out of their way to promote negativeness that’s not there. They wanna be Conor, but they’re not.
“Conor was able to do it and create his own space and it worked well for him. Not everybody’s going to be Conor, not everybody’s going to be ‘GSP,’ not everybody’s going to be Bruce Lee. You got to be yourself most of the time. I just think for future generations, we don’t need this idiocracy that these guys bring to the game. Maybe they are those foul, negative individuals. Like the guy with the red hat, he’s always just negative, he’s just a bad person. I don’t know Kamaru personally and I don’t care to either. But what I can see from his interviews, there’s just a negativeness. I’m not going to take no crap, especially from that idiot.”
You can watch the full interview below:
