This past Saturday at UFC 261, Jorge Masvidal (35-15) suffered his first knockout loss inside the octagon. The man who handed him that loss is also the man who has now beat Gamebred twice in a row, Kamaru Usman (19-1).
The knockout loss was the first time that someone has put Masvidal to sleep with strikes. We have seen Masvidal briefly floored before, but never has anyone completely shut the lights out. Kamaru Usman did just that at UFC 261.
Now, Masvidal is left wondering what’s next. Gamebred sat down with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani today to talk about the fight and what the future holds for him. Make no mistake about it, while he’s hurting emotionally, Gamebred isn’t going anywhere.
“I’ll definitely fight again this year. I have to…As it was, if it wasn’t for this suspension and this knockout, I would’ve been fighting three or four times this year. It’s something I wanted to do. If I can at least get one more fight this year, I’ll be happy.”
It’s clear that Masvidal is still going to be a factor in the UFC‘s welterweight division. He also told Helwani that he wants to wait to call out his opponent because he wants to call out someone realistic based on the welterweight landscape. Although, when asked about Nick Diaz (26-9, 2 NC), Gamebred said he would be down.
UFC Future for Masvidal
Nick Diaz was in attendance at UFC 261 and Dana White said after the fights that Diaz wanted to return to the octagon. In fact, they were meeting after the event was over. When Helwani asked about Diaz, Masvidal said he would definitely be interested.
“Definitely, Nick is a stud. (If) Nick wants to throw down, I’m more than willing to throw down. Like I said, I’m going to do it on my time. If Nick wants to fight near the end of this year, what can I say, I’m here. If you wanna do right by your brother, let’s go.”
After Masvidal defeated Nick’s younger brother Nate at UFC 244, Nick Diaz told Ariel Helwani that he wanted to get that fight back for his family. He wasn’t happy with the words Masvidal used following the win and he wanted to fight him.
Of course, at one point in the past, it looked like the UFC was putting that fight together. Dana White broke the news to reporters that the UFC was close to finalizing Nick Diaz – Jorge Masvidal at UFC 235 back in 2018.
Of course, the deal fell apart and the fight never happened. Gamebred went on to fight Darren Till and the rest is history. However, with Diaz setting up to return and Masvidal needing an opponent, perhaps the fight makes sense.
Time will tell, but I’d say that Nick Diaz is definitely in the running for Gamebred’s next fight.