Jorge Masvidal recently announced his UFC return for late 2024 or early 2025.
Why “Gamebred” wants to make his cage-fighting comeback after 17 professional losses — insisting he was too old and too shopworn to compete at the highest level — remains a mystery, though one longtime rival believes Masvidal (35-17) faked his retirement (to do this).
Maybe he needs money after this box-office bust.
Not long after Masvidal announced his MMA return, former UFC heavyweight champion and current UFC popcorn commentator, Daniel Cormier, suggested fans may not be jazzed about another run from the 39 year-old Floridian, who hasn’t won a fight in nearly five years.
Unless you count this steakhouse sucker punch.
“Jorge Masvidal should be commended for doing what he did to reach the levels of stardom that he did,” Cormier said on YouTube (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “Because when you look at his career as a whole, you really do see a guy that spent the vast majority of his prime, the vast majority of his youth as a middling fighter. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. Remember, when he started his UFC career, nobody cared. But then he has that great year where he beats Darren Till, then he beats Ben Askren, then he beats Nate Diaz to become the BMF champion in 2019, Madison Square Garden, (The) Rock puts the belt on. His star never shines so bright.”
It’s worth noting that Cormier had beef with Masvidal back in summer 2022.
“Look at the names on his resume,” Cormier continued. “At the end of the day, when you look at the career as a whole, it boils down to one year where Jorge Masvidal made you guys care, and it made him a star. But my question to you now is, do you still care? Because that’s what he’s banking on, right? He’s 39 years old. He has lost his last four MMA fights. He lost a boxing match. He said he will come back, starch somebody, and the UFC would be begging him to fight for a championship. My question to you is, do you care now? Do you care like you did in 2019?”
We’ll find out if matchmakers care when they announce Masvidal’s next opponent in the coming weeks.