Another weekend of fisticuffs has come and gone with UFC 261 tearing the roof off VyStar Veterans Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., last weekend (Sat., April 24, 2021), featuring a packed house of rabid fight fans watching LIVE action for the first time in more than one year.
It was a great (and wild) night of fights.
Plenty of fighters were left licking their wounds, including Jessica Andrade, who came up (way) short in her bid to dethrone current women’s Flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko (highlights). And let’s not forget Zhang Weili, who suffered a 78-second knockout loss to Rose Namajunas, coughing up her Strawweight title in the process (see it again here). And of course Chris Weidman, who sustained a gnarly leg break just seconds into his rematch against Uriah Hall.
But, which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
Jorge Masvidal.
Coming into his Kamaru Usman rematch, Masvidal was confident he would have a better showing than he did at UFC 251 — a title bout he took on super short notice — thanks to having a full fight camp under his belt.
In their first contest, Masvidal took “The Nigerian Nightmare” the distance, losing a unanimous decision after 25 minutes of action. This time around, the “BMF” titleholder was slept by the 170-pound champion in round two, thanks to a thunderous right hand that sent “Gambred” crashing to the canvas. Usman followed up the massive blow with a few hammer fists to seal the deal.
For Masvidal, a second loss to Usman puts his championship dreams on hold for the foreseeable future and he will now have to go back to the drawing board to regroup and attempt to get back into contention in an overly-crowded Welterweight division.
As for what’s next for “Gamebred,” there are a few tasty options out there for when he does decide to mount his comeback. Nick Diaz was in attendance in Jacksonville and met with UFC President, Dana White, backstage about a comeback. The story is already built-in, thanks to Masvidal’s “BMF” title win over Nick’s younger brother, Nate Diaz.
In the lead up to that fight, the eldest Diaz brother took exception to “Gamebred’s” comments about baptizing Nate inside the cage, which he did at UFC 244.
Speaking of Nate, he’s in line to face Leon Edwards at the upcoming UFC 262 event next month. The loser of that fight would be a perfect match up for Masvidal. Again, Jorge has history with Diaz and they were already in talks to run it back. As for Edwards, he and “Gamebred” have an ongoing beef and business to settle after the two had a backstage scuffle in London a few years ago.
Those are the top two options and both could produce fireworks.
For complete UFC 261 results and coverage click here.