“I definitely feel I deserve it… Just from the money side, we definitely deserve it.”
Jorge Masvidal believes he deserves a third crack at the UFC welterweight title despite coming up short on two previous occasions and losing his last three fights in a row.
The UFC BMF titleholder and Miami-based street fighter believes himself worthy of a third title shot based on several factors but most notably his rivalry with Leon Edwards, the new UFC welterweight champion.
Masvidal’s history with Edwards dates back to 2019 when ‘Gamebred’ sucker-punched ‘Rocky’ backstage at UFC London with the now-infamous ‘three-piece and a soda’ following his knockout victory over Darren Till.
Masvidal snubbed Edwards for years following the encounter but developed an overnight interest in the matchup following the latter’s historic UFC 278 knockout victory over Usman this past August.
“For starters, everybody has an opinion and everybody’s entitled to it,” Masvidal told MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck in a recent interview (h/t MMA News). “So if people think I deserve it or not, awesome man, I don’t take nothing to heart. I definitely feel I deserve it… Just from the money side, we definitely deserve it. Just from the fan side, we definitely deserve it. Who doesn’t want to see me fight Leon? They might say I don’t deserve it, but they’ll still raise their hand in the dark and quiet, and be like, ‘I wanna see that fight and I’m actually going to pay my hard-earned money to go see that fight.’ So I don’t agree with that.”
“If I didn’t deserve it, and the fans didn’t want it, why is it that every time I talk to reporters or anybody, they’re always talking about this? Why aren’t they talking about anything else? They’re always talking about me against Leon in England. Leon, fucking step up to the plate, bro. You begged, and cried, and did all this bullshit before when I was fighting for the titles. Now you’ve got the belt. Let’s go.”
Masvidal’s last win came in 2019 when he defeated Nate Diaz to win the BMF title, losing in subsequent fights to Kamaru Usman (twice) and ex-teammate Colby Colby Covington. He is currently #11 in the UFC welterweight rankings but was formerly ranked in the top five.