Masvidal talks ‘heart breaking’ UFC decision to pull Gastelum from Mexico City card

Jorge Masvidal has seen his fair share of booking woes in the UFC and this latest one appears to have been an especially heavy blow.

Whether it’s some sort of curse or just a particular run of bad luck, Jorge Masvidal’s UFC career has been a bit of a mess when it comes to fight booking. Surrounding Masvidal’s 11 appearances in the Octagon, he’s been involved in some sort of fighter replacement or bout cancellation situation 8 times. That’s 8 fights in three years where half the fight (or even the whole thing) fell apart.

Sometimes it was on his end, like when he was supposed to fight Norman Parke at UFC Boston, and was replaced by Gleison Tibau. Sometimes he’s come in on short notice, like when he replaced Reza Madadi against Michael Cheisa at UFC on Fox 8. But, most of the time it’s been him getting booked for fights and his opponent withdrawing.

And while it’s fairly understandable when an opponent gets injured, or sick, it’s gotta be a real kick in the teeth when they get pulled by the promotion to fight a bigger “name.”. That’s the sting Masvidal is feeling now, after his TUF Latin America 3 Finale opponent, Kelvin Gastelum, was removed from their bout in order to face Donald Cerrone at UFC 205.

Masvidal spoke to MMA fighting about the UFC pulling Gastelum from their Mexico City fight and he sounded none to pleased with the turn of events:

“It’s really heart breaking, man,” Masvidal told MMA Fighting. “We both signed bout agreements. Joe Silva told me it was more than on its way, you know. And I just found out today that they’re putting [Gastelum] to fight ‘Cowboy’ [Cerrone]. This is crazy, man, because this has happened to me three times. Like all the cases have been documented. Like me, my opponents, once I’ve signed, for some reason or another they get pulled out right before we get the match. So it breaks my heart, you know. I really wanted to put on a fight with a ranked guy.”
…
“I don’t know what reason they gave, but the real reason is that I’m not a big name,” Masvidal explained. “I don’t have a bunch of followers on Instagram or what not, you know what I’m saying. So I figured I wasn’t enough of a draw, counting the whole card of Mexico, as [opposed] of being in New York. That’s the only thing I could think of, you know. It’s just politics a lot of the times. So whatever, I’m just hoping I can get the highest-ranked possible dude. I don’t want to fight no up-and-coming guy, no guy that’s 15-0 but hasn’t faced anybody yet. That’s not where I am in my career. I need to fight the best in the world, so that’s what I’m looking to do Nov. 5th, fight the best in the world.”

As for who one of the “best in the world” that Masvidal could face might be? He has a name at the ready: “Johny Hendricks.”

Hendricks is currently coming off a pair of losses to Stephen Thompson, and most recently Kelvin Gastelum. However, the former welterweight champion is still currently ranked 6th in the division by the UFC’s in-house ranking system. For a guy like Masvidal looking for a quick avenue to break into the top ten, a fight against someone like Hendricks could be just what he’s looking for.

Jorge Masvidal has seen his fair share of booking woes in the UFC and this latest one appears to have been an especially heavy blow.

Whether it’s some sort of curse or just a particular run of bad luck, Jorge Masvidal’s UFC career has been a bit of a mess when it comes to fight booking. Surrounding Masvidal’s 11 appearances in the Octagon, he’s been involved in some sort of fighter replacement or bout cancellation situation 8 times. That’s 8 fights in three years where half the fight (or even the whole thing) fell apart.

Sometimes it was on his end, like when he was supposed to fight Norman Parke at UFC Boston, and was replaced by Gleison Tibau. Sometimes he’s come in on short notice, like when he replaced Reza Madadi against Michael Cheisa at UFC on Fox 8. But, most of the time it’s been him getting booked for fights and his opponent withdrawing.

And while it’s fairly understandable when an opponent gets injured, or sick, it’s gotta be a real kick in the teeth when they get pulled by the promotion to fight a bigger “name.”. That’s the sting Masvidal is feeling now, after his TUF Latin America 3 Finale opponent, Kelvin Gastelum, was removed from their bout in order to face Donald Cerrone at UFC 205.

Masvidal spoke to MMA fighting about the UFC pulling Gastelum from their Mexico City fight and he sounded none to pleased with the turn of events:

“It’s really heart breaking, man,” Masvidal told MMA Fighting. “We both signed bout agreements. Joe Silva told me it was more than on its way, you know. And I just found out today that they’re putting [Gastelum] to fight ‘Cowboy’ [Cerrone]. This is crazy, man, because this has happened to me three times. Like all the cases have been documented. Like me, my opponents, once I’ve signed, for some reason or another they get pulled out right before we get the match. So it breaks my heart, you know. I really wanted to put on a fight with a ranked guy.”
…
“I don’t know what reason they gave, but the real reason is that I’m not a big name,” Masvidal explained. “I don’t have a bunch of followers on Instagram or what not, you know what I’m saying. So I figured I wasn’t enough of a draw, counting the whole card of Mexico, as [opposed] of being in New York. That’s the only thing I could think of, you know. It’s just politics a lot of the times. So whatever, I’m just hoping I can get the highest-ranked possible dude. I don’t want to fight no up-and-coming guy, no guy that’s 15-0 but hasn’t faced anybody yet. That’s not where I am in my career. I need to fight the best in the world, so that’s what I’m looking to do Nov. 5th, fight the best in the world.”

As for who one of the “best in the world” that Masvidal could face might be? He has a name at the ready: “Johny Hendricks.”

Hendricks is currently coming off a pair of losses to Stephen Thompson, and most recently Kelvin Gastelum. However, the former welterweight champion is still currently ranked 6th in the division by the UFC’s in-house ranking system. For a guy like Masvidal looking for a quick avenue to break into the top ten, a fight against someone like Hendricks could be just what he’s looking for.