Among MMA fans, one of the dream matchups for 2020 is former two-division world champion Conor McGregor against the BMF (Baddest Mother F—ker) titleholder Jorge Masvidal.
McGregor (21-4), who returns after a 15-month hiatus on Jan. 18 against Donald Cerrone in the UFC 246 headliner, says he wants to fight three times in 2020 and that Masvidal is on the shortlist of guys he'd like to step into the octagon with. But when Masvidal thinks about the chance to throw it down with the biggest name in the sport, there's something that keeps telling him that the Irishman really doesn't want to face him.
“A part of me feels like, man, buddy (McGregor) doesn’t want to scrap,” Masvidal told Submission Radio. “Cool. OK. Next. I’m not gonna linger on it or nothing like that or force nobody to dance with me. If you don’t want to dance, cool — on to the next.”
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Masvidal (35-13), a 17-year veteran, grabbed the attention of the MMA world in 2019 by knocking out Darren Till in his native England in March and then cemented himself as a star with a blistering five-second KO of Ben Askren at UFC 239. After that, he battered Nate Diaz to win by third-round stoppage at UFC 244 to win the BMF belt.
A clash with current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman would naturally be the matchup for "Gamebred." But McGregor has also mentioned Usman as a possibility if he gets by Cerrone. For Masvidal, it's simple. Any way he slices it, he's fighting Usman down the line, and if McGregor tries to get in the way of that, he'll have to fight his way through the former street fighter from Miami to get there.
“It’s cute, man. Conor, it’s cute. It’s just cute,” Masvidal said. “It’s basically where it’s at. You don’t do nothing at 170. You have some type of power at 155. You could skip I don’t know who and what. At 155, that’s cool. But at 170, that wouldn’t even be a conversation, just based on his record alone. He’s like 1-1 at 170. And on top of it, he’d have to go through me to get the title shot. I dictate who gets the next title shot and when. And that’s just simple. If I’m fighting Conor, then maybe somebody else gets the title shot. If I’m not fighting Conor, then I’m fighting right for this title. Well then, I’m having (expletive) owl soup.”