Masvidal is angling to get back into the UFC, and what better fight to make than one against Edwards in December?
The grass is not always greener on the other side, as Jorge Masvidal has discovered in his foray fighting outside the UFC.
After a four fight skid that included two title fight losses to Kamaru Usman, Masvidal asked the UFC if he could pursue boxing outside the promotion — and shockingly enough, the promotion allowed one of their biggest stars to pause his contract and fight Nate Diaz on a Fanmio pay-per-view in July. But things didn’t go his way.
Not only did he lose a close decision to Diaz, the money side of things was all messed up. Diaz is suing Fanmio claiming they stiffed him for upwards of $10 million. “Gamebred” hasn’t disclosed whether he also got the screw payment wise, but his desire to get back into the UFC where the checks always clear certainly says something.
Now he’s angling to make a fight against longtime rival Leon Edwards, who he hit with the infamous ‘three piece and soda’ back in 2019.
“I know he wouldn’t fight me, he got offered and turned it down,” Masvidal said in a recent interview with MMA FIghting. “He don’t want this. “I tried. Leon Edwards don’t want this. He had other options, he went for other things except fight me, basically. I’ll tell you that much.”
“I’ll tell you right now, Leon, I will whoop your f—ing ass,” he declared. “Let’s f—ing go. I don’t know maybe Dec. 7 in Vegas, maybe next year at the Super Bowl. I don’t know but I’ll beat the f— out of your little skinny ass.”
December 7th is UFC 310 in Las Vegas, and the card could certainly use the starpower that Masvidal still has. Edwards could use an opponent like Masvidal as well after dropping an uninspired decision loss to Belal Muhammad in July that cost him the welterweight title.
Is it a fight that could happen? The UFC may have been willing to let Masvidal out, but they seem a bit less eager to get him back to action for whatever reason. “Gamebred” earned himself a hefty raise stepping in last minute to fight Kamaru Usman on Fight Island during the pandemic, and the promotion seems extremely reluctant to break the bank when it comes to setting up fights lately.
As Masvidal mentioned, Edwards isn’t too interested in the fight either.
“I don’t like him that much,” Leon admitted on the Believe You Me podcast back in January. “I’m rooting for him to win so I can fight him. He just keeps losing, so it’s hard to make the fight make sense.”
Since then Masvidal lost that decision to Diaz, bringing his skid to five fights. With Edwards undoubtedly hoping to get back into title contention, does the fight make sense to him? It makes dollars, so you never know. But if we were betting our own dollars, we wouldn’t put them down on another three piece and soda coming through at the end of the year.