“I probably won’t see him in the cage because he’s a different weight class to me, but if I see him outside I’m smashing him.”
Jorge Masvidal has made an enemy of both the Edwards brothers.
Just moments after his scintillating knockout win over Darren Till at UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ 5, ‘Gamebred’ got into a physical altercation with Birmingham England’s Leon Edwards backstage at the O2 Arena.
Masvidal, who surged into the UFC’s top-five welterweight rankings following his win over Till, was taunted by Edwards during his post-fight interview with ESPN’s Laura Sanko. Masvidal proceeded to walk over to Edwards with his hands behind his back, before unloading a three-punch combination on the Brit.
Masvidal claims Edwards approached him in a fight stance, but according to younger brother Fabian Edwards, who competes under the Bellator banner, Masvidal was the one who initiated the brawl.
“Like you seen in the video, my brother was walking by and he said to him, ‘July the 7th,’ Masvidal said, ‘maybe,’ and that was it, there was nothing really and truly; there was no sh*t talking. There was no instigating, [Leon] was trying to make a fight happen,” Edwards told MMA Fighting’s Peter Carroll.
Edwards, who is 6-0 as a professional, warned Masvidal that, should he ever cross paths with him on the street, ‘he’s f-cked.’
“The thing that pissed me off about it was the way he walked over,” Fabian said. “He walked over calm; hands behind his back…and then he starts throwing punches knowing well that security was going to jump on it. I tried to smash his head in myself, but we had about 100 security guards between us, so I couldn’t get my hands on him.
“If I see that man again he’s f-cked. I probably won’t see him in the cage because he’s a different weight class to me, but if I see him outside I’m smashing him. It’s personal now.”
Although Masvidal is eyeing a title shot against Kamaru Usman, Edwards believes the ex-street fighter ought to fight his older brother, Leon.
“We’ve been looking for that fight and he’s gave [UFC] a reason now,” he said. “That fight has got to happen. The UFC has to make this fight. It doesn’t matter what [Masvidal] wants; they need to make sure that this fight happens next. They’ve both just had a massive win and it makes sense.
“He’s gone and done what he’s done; a sneak attack. He deserves a beating. He’s got to get a beating regardless of whether it’s inside or outside the cage,” he added.
Leon Edwards fought in the UFC on ESPN+ 5 co-main event, earning an impressive unanimous decision over Gunnar Nelson. With the win, ‘Rocky’ solidified his position in the UFC’s official top-ten welterweight rankings.