Jorge Masvidal hasn’t been up to much since a 2024 boxing loss to Nate Diaz, but that could change soon according to “Gamebred.”
There were few names bigger than Masvidal over the 2019 to 2021 stretch of MMA that saw UFC get a big pandemic bump. Jorge pummeled Darren Till in London, nuked Ben Askren with a flying knee, and then won the inaugural Baddest Motherf–ker belt. He then headlined the UFC’s first trip to ‘Fight Island’ in U.A.E..
But after four losses in a row, Masvidal retired from MMA and
later asked the UFC for permission to box. He got it … sort of. The promotion didn’t set him free. Instead they gave him a list of approved opponents. Nate Diaz and Mike Perry were on the list. Jake Paul was not.
Now Masvidal says he almost ended up on Jake Paul’s upcoming MVP: Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano card. The only reason he’s not competing? He says the UFC has bigger things in store for him.
“I got offered to fight on this card, I had a very good, nice offer from Netflix,” he said on his Death Row MMA podcast. “But UFC had other plans for me. They said ‘No, we’re going to use you’ and I’ll break the news on this podcast who they want me to fight and when and where.”
“I was talking to [MVP co-founder] Nakisa [Bidarian], I get along very well with Nakisa and got nothing but love for him for even thinking of me and calling me up. It just didn’t work out. I had the first offer before they gave it to Nate [Diaz], it was me and I desperately wanted to take the fight.”
“”But the UFC has a good, good plan for me,” Masvidal added. “And they told me the plan. I like it and we’re going to see it through now.”
Masvidal has been pushing for a UFC return since he got stiffed out of his Nate Diaz boxing purse by Fanmio to the tune of $5 million dollars. The UFC hasn’t seemed particularly eager or excited to bring him back, and there’s been a lot of ‘Big news coming soon’ announcements from “Gamebred” with no actual big news. Could this time be different?
Masvidal recently pulled out of a Hype Brazil grappling match with Shara “Bullet” Magomedov just before Nate Diaz was announced on the MVP card. Was that in response to his talk with the UFC? What could this ‘good, good plan’ be? Dare we dream of a McGregor vs. Masvidal fight?
Let us know what you want to see Jorge do next in the comments below.
