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The welterweight contender says an offer from the UFC would have to “exceed expectations by a large number” for him not to wait for a shot at the 170-pound title.
Following Colby Covington’s recent win over Robbie Lawler, Jorge Masvidal getting the next UFC welterweight title shot is far from a sure thing.
UFC president Dana White said after Covington’s dominant win in the UFC Newark main event last weekend that “Chaos” would be getting the next title shot against current champion Kamaru Usman. Masvidal, of course, also wanted the next shot following his five-second knockout of Ben Askren last month at UFC 239. To make matters more interesting, Covington and Masvidal are close friends and train together at American Top Team in Florida.
Masvidal told reporters at UFC Uruguay on Saturday night that waiting to fight the Usman vs. Covington winner is currently a viable option — but not the only one.
“We could have the next title shot, the winner of Colby and Usman,” Masvidal said (via MMA Fighting). “And there’s other fights that [the UFC has] in mind. I’m excited for the options that they’ve given me; we’re going to narrow them down a little bit more.”
Though “Gamebred” is open to one more fight before getting his own shot at UFC gold, he would only take it for “a very handsome fee.”
“It would have to exceed expectations by a large number for me not to fight for the title,” Masvidal said. “I’ve been trying to get the title for 16 years now. That’s a lot of summers, a lot of nights, a lot of winners, a lot of running while it’s raining, sleeping in cars, sleeping in the gym, living in different houses. It’s been a long road. I want to get compensated for this incredibly long road.”
One fighter who has lately been often found in the same sentence as Masvidal is fellow top 170-pound contender Leon Edwards, who most recently defeated Rafael dos Anjos in July. Masvidal and Edwards were involved in a backstage altercation that went viral after their respective wins at UFC London in March. Since then, the pair have gone back and forth on social media and in interviews.
With Covington expected to fight Usman, Masvidal vs. Edwards as a title eliminator makes a lot of sense to many. Edwards claimed last week that Masvidal turned down a fight with him, but Masvidal’s manager Abraham Kawa later denied that.
Masvidal seemed noncommittal to the Edwards fight happening next, but said it’s a given that it’ll happen one day.
“The UFC hasn’t put a contract in front of my face with Leon’s anything, because they know we’re not about petty sh-t,” Masvidal said. “We’re only looking up.
“It’s not going to be on his terms or whenever the f-ck he wants it. It’ll always be on mine, and that’s what bothers him so much inside. … You’re a f-cking nobody. I run this show. You listen to me. When I say I’m going to kick your f-cking ass, I’ll kick you your f-cking ass.
“16 years I’ve been chasing this dream of getting the belt. You think I’m gonna let some f-cking bug like this guy even slightly throw me off my road, my destiny toward my greatness, toward the belt? I’m gonna get the belt and I’m going to eliminate him off the face of the Earth. I’m gonna wipe the floor with that guy. It’s going to happen. I swear to you, it’s going to happen. It’s just not gonna be on his terms.”