Two MMA legends had their rematch inside the boxing ring this past Saturday night. About four and a half years after the inaugural BMF title fight which went down at MSG, Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal (35-16 MMA) and Nate Diaz (21-13 MMA) ran it back inside the square circle.
In their first fight which took place inside the octagon, Jorge Masvidal dominated an early part of the fight. However, much like with a lot of Nate Diaz matchups, Diaz started to come on strong as Masvidal slowed down. That said, before the fourth round could even start, a doctor waved the fight off due to a cut. Masvidal won the BMF title but many felt like we were robbed of the finish.
All these years later, the two fought again inside the boxing ring on Saturday night. The matchup was extremely close with both men having their moments throughout. Watching live, it felt like Masvidal was landing the bigger shots but Diaz closed strong and I honestly had the fight 95-95 after ten rounds. Neither man landed a knockdown during the fight.
When the scorecards were read, the first judge scored the fight 95-95 like I had it. One judge had it 97-93 and the other 98-92 both in favor of Nate Diaz who won the boxing match by Majority Decision.
Boxing or MMA Trilogy?
In the post-fight press conference, Masvidal contemplated whether the hometown crowd swayed two of the judges for Diaz. He pointed to the fact that when he would land a big shot, there wasn’t much reaction but when Diaz would land or even just throw something big, it came with a big crowd reaction.
Masvidal thought it was crazy that one judge only gave him two rounds and I tend to agree. I personally had it a draw round by round, but if I was judging based on Pride MMA rules where you judge the fight as a whole instead of round by round, I honestly would’ve given the boxing match to Masvidal.
That said, Diaz got the win and now they are one win apiece. Masvidal wants to run it back, but Diaz was non-committal. In fact, the two people who Diaz called out were rematches with Jake Paul and Leon Edwards. I would love to see these two run it back. Honestly, I would love them both to go back to the UFC and do it one final time inside the octagon to close it out for good.