Photo by Michael Owens/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
Jorge Masvidal had quite a scare after Nate Diaz nearly pulled out of UFC 244.
UFC 244’s main event fight between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz was on jeopardy for a bit. Late last week, Diaz revealed he was approached by USADA for elevated levels of a banned substance, which almost urged him to pull out of the fight.
Everything was eventually straightened out and Diaz was cleared to compete. But in those 48 hours that the fight was hanging in the balance, “Gamebred” says he had quite a scare.
During Monday’s pre-fight conference call, Masvidal revealed his initial reaction when he saw the tweet about Diaz’s USADA issue.
“That was f—king nuts, you know?” Masvidal said (via MMA Junkie). “I was like, ‘What the f—k? Nah, that’s Photoshopped.’ I digged a little harder, and it wasn’t Photoshopped.
“A little bit of anxiety came. Not anixety in the sense I thought Nate was a cheater, because I never thought he was a cheater. Just the uncertainty like, ‘They might pull my fight because of some lab screw-up? Because of some weirdass sh-t?’ I don’t want to diss on USADA, either, because I think they’ve cleaned up a lot of the sport, but it’s not 100 percent right yet.
“By Day No. 2, anxiety hit,” he continued. “About two pizzas later and hot fries and other things I shouldn’t have put in my body, the coaching staff got a hold of me to calm the anxiety down. We went about business. When I get anxiety and depression and things like that, I take to eating.”
But even after the issue that nearly killed the fight, Masvidal says his trust in USADA remains.
“Let me make this clear: I think USADA has moved my sport forward in certain ways that I couldn’t have imagined,” he told MMA Fighting in a separate interview. “There was a time when I was getting fed up with what was going on with the substance abuse, and they’ve chopped down a lot of it. Can it be tighter and better? Yes. But in that sense, I’m a very intense individual where I just always think it could be better and better.
“I could sit down and give USADA my opinions on it, but I want to say they’ve done a great job. Guys like me are shining because of USADA,” he added. “There was a time when everybody was looking like ‘Captain America’ and ‘Wolverine,’ and the guys that are natural weren’t shining as much. I’m able to send these people into orbit now because the system is at much more of a level playing field. I want to give big kudos to USADA. Can it be better? Yeah.”
And even after his food binge, Masvidal assures the MMA public that he won’t have any trouble making weight.
”I’ve never missed weight in my career, and if I didn’t at 155 pounds, you better believe I’m not missing now.”
Masvidal and Diaz will fight for the “baddest motherf—r” title at UFC 244 this Saturday, November 2nd at Madison Square Garden.