If there was one fighter in the UFC that consistently managed to attract the attention of millions of people around the world, it was Jorge Gamebred Masvidal. If you were to spend some time watching his highlight reel in the octagon and during press conferences and interviews, it’s easy to see the origin of his popularity. He comes off as bad dude, down to brawl against anyone and everyone. He seems like he’s a true fighter at heart and that he enjoys fighting other people.
However, we have to say that things are not looking well for Jorge Masvidal given his past few performances in the UFC. In his last fight, he was ragdolled by his former friend-turned-rival Colby Chaos Covington. Apart from landing a clean hook that stunned Colby for a second – there’s really not much else that Masvidal did during the course of five rounds.
The weird thing is that it seems that the majority of fight fans expected this would happen. Everyone was hyping Colby’s relentless pressure and top-tier wrestling skills. But still, there were some die-hard Masvidal fans that were unwilling to face the cold hard truth that their favorite fighter is not champ-caliber.
It appears that there is a lot of hype building Jorge Masvidal as one of the most popular fighters in the world – especially after the flying knee KO on Ben Askren. After that, he battered a worn Nate Diaz for the BMF belt. And it’s from here that his career started to turn downhill. He lost two times against champion Kamaru Usman and now against Colby Covington.
If you take a look at his fighting record, you would see that he has 35 wins and 16 losses in MMA on his resume. While we’re not disputing the significance of 35 wins – and the fact that he’s had 51 pro fights in his career – there’s still a case to be made for the “journeyman” label.
It was a wise move on behalf of Jorge and his management’s decision to sign a deal with the UFC prior to his fight against Colby. Reports say that the deal has turned Jorge into the second highest paid athlete in the UFC, right after Conor McGregor. But did the UFC made a blunder with this new contract, given Masvidal’s lackluster performance in his last three fights?
Well, regardless of his prior performances, Masvidal still has a star persona about him. We expect that regardless of who he fights next, the fight will be a big draw in the eyes of the fans of the sport. And chances are that the UFC will reel in millions in PPVs because of Masvidal’s star power alone. So, who should he face next? It’s obvious that he can’t fight Usman or Covington in the near future. Leon Edwards is slated to face the champion in his next fight and Gilbert Burns will face Khamzat Chimaev in his next fight. And Masvidal lost a decision against Stephen Wonderboy Thompson. The other fighters don’t have much of a star power – they’re noway near Masvidal in this regard.
One fight that would definitely make sense at the moment is a rematch against Nate Diaz. Jorge fought well in the first fight and the fight was stopped by doctor stoppage. But we thought that Diaz was coming up strong in the later rounds (as he usually does). And Diaz also has a lot of start power – we would say that he’s on the same level as Masvidal. So, a rematch between the two definitely makes sense at the moment, as Diaz also doesn’t have a fight scheduled at the moment, either.
Another potential fight that Masvidal can make is against none other than Conor McGregor. The two have talked trash about one another in the media in the past, teasing a potential fight. Both fighters have huge star power – and both fighters are on the outs in their careers, having lost their last few fights. But it appears that Conor has definitely set his eyes on reclaiming the lightweight championship belt. So, a fight against Masvidal would have to wait a while.
We still hold the opinion that Jorge Masvidal is one of the most fun fighters to watch, both in the octagon and off it. It’s no coincidence that he became one of the most popular fighters in the world. It’s just that we believe that he doesn’t have enough to become a champion – especially with a steady line of top-tier grapplers in the UFC welterweight division like Usman, Colby, Burns, and others. Jorge can say all he wants about wrestlers willing to “sniff his crotch”, but the fact is that his wrestling is lacking. And at this point, we fear that it’s a bit too late in his career to catch up in the wrestling part of his game.
Still, Masvidal has some very fun fights that he can make in the near future. Even though he looked shattered after his loss against Colby, he took to Twitter to announce that his fighting career was far from over. Even though he will likely not compete for a title again, it will be still fun to watch him go at it, whether it will be against Diaz, McGregor, or anyone else.