Mentally, ‘Gamebred’ has yet to come to terms with his KO loss to Usman.
When ex-UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman needed a new opponent for his scheduled defense at UFC 251 in 2020, Jorge Masvidal was tapped as the short-notice replacement.
At the time, Masvidal was on one of the most impressive runs of his professional career, which was highlighted by a trio of violent finishes against Darren Till, Ben Askren and Nate Diaz. Now the new ‘BMF’ champion, ‘Gamebred’ headed into his fight against the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ feeling confident, saying he would “prove” that Usman was “nowhere near as good as advertised.”
In his second defense, Usman dominated Masvidal en route to a unanimous decision. Though it was a thoroughly one-sided loss, the American Top Team (ATT) product got himself a second fight with Usman nearly a year later. This time, the 38-year-old was even more confident—declaring Usman as “one of the softest hitters” he had ever fought. That declaration would end up haunting Masvidal, who got slept by Usman in their rematch at UFC 261 in 2021.
Despite having some time to process the loss, Masvidal recently admitted that he has really only recovered physically, not mentally.
“I still haven’t got over it, brother,” said Masvidal on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. “I want to f—king rip Usman’s f—king brains out. Nothing personal. I just want to get back in there and do it to him. I’ve never been knocked out and I’ve fought great strikers and they never even came close to knocking me out.
“It’s not to diss Usman, but I don’t put him in the [same] league of one of those great strikers,” continued Masvidal. “He’s a great fighter because he can a lot of things well, but after fighting him the first time, getting his best shots, and I cut 20 pounds of water and I took the fight on six days notice. I went to Abu Dhabi and I was like, ‘Bro, this guy would never hurt me. He hits like a b—h.’ And then all of a sudden, he’s the dude that knocks me out? And I had five rounds with him. So in that nine months since the first fight, [the fact] that he gained that type of power is just nuts to me. It was unreal, unnatural.”
Masvidal went on to explain that he “went into a dark place” in the immediate aftermath of the fight. He attempted to return to the win column in his next UFC appearance, which came against friend-turned-foe Colby Covington at UFC 272 in 2022. ‘Chaos’ handed Masvidal his third consecutive loss.
Up next for Masvidal is Gilbert Burns, with whom he shares the Octagon at UFC 287, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for April 8 at the Miami-Dade Arena in Miami, Florida.
About the author: Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016. (full bio)