With current BMF champion, Jorge Masvidal expected to sit out until at least August or September until he makes his next Octagon walk — the projected May returning, Nate Diaz has labelled his one-time opponent, a “bitchass sellout“.
Masvidal was the subject of a somewhat surprising callout from undisputed UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman after UFC 258 in February — with the defending gold holder offering him a rematch of their July 2020 UFC 251 clash, this time on a full-camp rather than leaving him with “excuses” of a six-day short-notice draft in.
Detailing how he’s targeting a return to the Octagon in either August or September — Masvidal claimed his next opponent would be “baptized“.
“August, (or) September, somebody is getting baptised in my realm,” Masvidal said. “And the people are going to like it when they find out who it is.” (H/T Chisanga Malata)
Originally scheduled to meet with eventual foe, Gilbert Burns at the ‘Fight Island’ event last year, Usman instead met with Masvidal on short-notice after his former Sanford MMA teammate returned a positive COVID-19 test result. Dropping his first defeat after a three-fight run of stoppages, Masvidal suffered a rather one-sided unanimous decision loss, including two 50-45 judgings on two scorecards.
Yet to feature since that July outing, Masvidal has been consistently linked to a grudge-match, potentially on the reboot of The Ultimate Fighter against former American Top Team stablemate and former interim champion, Colby Covington, however, that matchup has failed to come to fruition. Covington has since rejected a short-notice matchup against Leon Edwards in two week’s time, maintaining that Masvidal turned down a seven-figure payday to coach opposite him on TUF.
With signs pointing toward a potential rematch of Usman and Masvidal, Stockton veteran, Diaz has claimed that Masvidal is a “bitchass sellout” for postponing his Octagon return until the end of the summer, replying to a recent post from ESPN MMA.
Recently speaking of his own plans to make his Octagon return in May, Diaz has called for welterweight matchup against lightweight elites, Dustin Poirier and Charles Oliveira upon his return to active-competition.
Making his most recent walk at UFC 245 in November of 2019 — Diaz headlined a Madison Square Garden event against the aforenoted, Masvidal — for the symbolic BMF championship. Suffering an early elbows and high kick knockdown, a sizeable cut developed both above and below Diaz’s right-eye — with the ringside physician calling a halt to proceedings before the fourth round due to the laceration.