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Jorge Masvidal has been dreaming of a UFC title for years, but now that a shot is there he’s no longer as interested. Here’s his explanation.
Sick of the new UFC era where everyone is chasing after money fights rather than staying locked into the brutal competition for UFC gold? Don’t complain to Jorge Masvidal, cuz he doesn’t want to hear it.
Masvidal has been toiling away in relative obscurity for years across almost every major promotion. It was only after a breakout 2019 that saw him starch two high profile fighters in four months that he finally broke through into the consciousness of most MMA fans.
He managed to parlay that popularity into a big money fight against Nate Diaz at UFC 244 that ended up being the biggest event of the year for the promotion. And now he’s looking not for a title shot against wrestler Kamaru Usman but a superfight with Conor McGregor.
Why?
“Conor is not always going to be around,” Masvidal explained to Fansided MMA. “Whoever has that belt at the time will always be there. There will always be a 170-pound champion.”
And he doesn’t care what you think of him turning down a title shot to get it — not that he’s had to yet … this is still all just hypothetical hand wringing, the best kind.
“What is the big deal if this guy that’s been in the sport 16 f**king years goes on and gets a paycheck?” he continued. “I’m fighting a f**king killer, a two-time champion, a guy that’s a sniper with his left hand. And I’m also going to make a paycheck. So what’s the problem with that? There is no problem with that. It’s just some of the casual fans who have been watching the sport for three to five years, and they think they’re f**king diehard fans or hardcore fans. No, I’m the one. It’s been 16 years I’ve been doing this, my brother.”
”My lineage goes way, way back then,” Masvidal continued. “Before I was even in question to get this title shot, I had to go and get famous. You know how hard that f**king was? I had to get f**king famous, man, go viral and s**t, before they’d even consider giving me the title.”
Masvidal is one of those rare creatures that currently gets star treatment from the UFC despite not holding a championship belt. They even gave him a cut of the pay-per-view for his fight against Nate Diaz, a privilege again typically reserved for champs. So if he’s getting champ treatment and champ money without having to do the hard work of actually becoming the champ and defending against all comers, should anyone really be criticizing him?