Jorge Masvidal has enjoyed a stellar 2019. Starting the year off with a knockout win over Darren Till, he then went on to knock the then-unbeaten Ben Askren out with a flying knee, breaking the record for the UFC’s fastest ever knockout, before convincingly winning the BMF belt against Nate Diaz earlier this month in Madison Square Garden.
As Masvidal says, it’s been a career resurrection for the Miami native and he is quite rightly being lauded for his achievements this year. However, fellow Florida-based fighter Kamaru Usman isn’t overly impressed with Masvidal’s exploits.
UFC welterweight champion Usman could well be meeting “Gamebred” some time soon and he says Masvidal’s rise is largely due to some favourable matchmaking. In fact, Usman believes Masvidal was untested in the calendar year.
“I wouldn’t say [I’ve been] impressed,” Usman told MMA Fighting. “Because it’s Masvidal, nothing’s changed. He’s the same guy. He’s fought the same way forever. It’s just the luck of the draw; he’s getting that luck of the draw.
“I’ve yet to see him fight a full-on welterweight from start to finish and completely dominate them. Then at that point I can say this is a different guy.”
Despite that, Usman says he would be more than up for a fight with Masvidal.
“He’s got a lot of hype right now, and he’s been in this sport for a long, long time,” Usman continued. “But at the end of the day, does it really matter that you have all that hype if you never get to the pinnacle of the sport?
“I like the fact that that he has all this hype. It brings a lot of eyes. So if he does make it to me and that fight is made, I would actually be very, very interested in that.”
Usman will defend his UFC welterweight championship against foe Colby Covington at UFC 245 in the final pay-per-view event of the year on 14 December in Las Vegas.
