Could we see Jorge Masvidal vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov in the future?
Masvidal is currently set to challenge Kamaru Usman for the UFC Welterweight title at UFC 252; however, the 170-pound fighter revealed that he’s open to facing the undefeated UFC Lightweight Champion if the money is right (Transcript courtesy of mmafighting.com):
“The moolah’s gonna talk, man,” Masvidal said. “155 is such a battle with my weight. Once I’m at around 172 to 173 pounds, I’m at around five percent body fat already, six percent body fat. So I just don’t have a lot of room to play with and still get to 155. It’s a lot of water, it’s always been a lot of water. That doesn’t leave me the night of the fight in the best shape that I could possibly be, like how I compete at 170 and have that explosion, I can explode a little bit more and for longer. At ‘55 it would be a little different.”
“The moolah’s gonna talk, man,” Masvidal said. “155 is such a battle with my weight. Once I’m at around 172 to 173 pounds, I’m at around five percent body fat already, six percent body fat. So I just don’t have a lot of room to play with and still get to 155. It’s a lot of water, it’s always been a lot of water. That doesn’t leave me the night of the fight in the best shape that I could possibly be, like how I compete at 170 and have that explosion, I can explode a little bit more and for longer. At ‘55 it would be a little different.”
While the Florida native isn’t too keen on dropping down to 155, Masvidal makes it clear that he could make the weight and actually be the first man (unless Tony Ferguson does it before him) to beat the undefeated lightweight:
“But that’s not to say I couldn’t win one and that I couldn’t make the weight,” Masvidal said. I would just have to be rewarded so motherf*cking handsomely for me to drop down to ‘55 and compete with anybody."
“I would love to do it because I felt I never got my fair due shot at 155. I beat a lot of top class competitors before I came to the UFC at 155. They never gave me a shot to fight a top-10 guy. It wasn’t until I started fighting at 170 they gave me top-5 and top-10 guys. 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.”
At the moment, it’s not exactly clear if the planned fight between Ferguson and Nurmagomedov will happen. UFC 249 has been cancelled in Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center; however, Dana White continues to ensure that the fight will happen on April 18.
If the fight does happen and the Lightweight Champion retains his belt, and should Masvidal beat Usman for the Welterweight title, then the possibility of the superfight would indeed go up. Would you be excited if Masvidal vs. Nurmagomedov was announced?