Jorge Masvidal Would Return To Lightweight On One Condition
Thanks to a stellar 2019 campaign, there hasn’t been much talk about Jorge Masvidal fighting at lightweight lately, if any. After all, the expectation is that when the UFC gets up-and-running again in the coming weeks, the 35 year old will throw hands with the welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman.
When 2019 began, Masvidal was on the outside of the welterweight title shot mix looking in. At the time, the charismatic fighter hadn’t fought since 2017, when he dropped a decision to Stephen Thompson.
However, after putting away Darren Till in March, Masvidal followed up with the fastest KO in UFC history, by running through Ben Askren in just five seconds. Talk about ‘Gamebred’ fighting for the welterweight crown started to make the rounds then, and after he defeated Nate Diaz in November at UFC 244, it spiked.
Although he is expected to challenge Usman this summer for UFC 170lbs title, Masvidal isn’t ruling out a return to the lightweight division at some point in the future.
“I would just have to be rewarded so motherf***ing handsomely for me to drop down to ’55 and compete with anybody,” Masvidal said. “But I would love to do it because I felt like I never got my fair due shot at 155. I beat a lot of top-class competitors before I came into the UFC at 155; they never gave me a shot to fight a top ten guy. It wasn’t until 170, they gave me top ten and top five guys, so I never got, I felt, my fair due shot at ’55. I beat a lot of good guys when I was down there, in the UFC, as well,” Masvidal said in the latest video on his YouTube channel (as transcribed by MMA Junkie)
“The moolah is going to talk man; 155 is such a battle with my weight,” Masvidal said. “Once I’m somewhere around at 170-173 pounds, I’m at five percent body fat already, six percent body fat, so I don’t have a lot of room to play with to still get to 155. It’s a lot of water. It’s always been a lot of water, and that doesn’t leave me the night of the fight in the best shape that I could possibly be in.
“Like how I compete at 170, I have that explosion. I could explode a little bit more and for longer. At ’55, it would be a little different, but that’s not to say I couldn’t win one and that I couldn’t make the weight.”
On one hand, when you consider that Masvidal is a small welterweight and that he’s repeatedly said big money fights are his priority, these comments shouldn’t be shocking. Especially if he’s confident he can make the cut to 155lbs safely.
“If they were to cop up that money, I’d be in a hurry to get down there and show what I’m worth,” Masvidal said.
Do you think Jorge Masvidal should stay at welterweight or return to lightweight?
See also: