Jorge Masvidal turned to food after learning of Nate Diaz’s USADA struggles ahead of UFC 244. With that hurdle cleared, however, he’s ready to do one thing: damage.
New York, NY — Jorge Masvidal doesn’t want to talk about anyone not named Nate Diaz ahead of UFC 244. “You guys know, start asking questions about so-and-sos, number 37 over there, the guy from another planet, meeting’s adjourned,” he said to open his press scrum at Wednesday’s open workout ahead of the event. “No warnings today. I’ve got a main event on Saturday, that’s all I want to hear about.”
The main event in question is the rare non-title fight to top a PPV card. Not only a PPV card, but a New York card, one of the biggest of the year. Masvidal faces Nate Diaz, an MMA fan’s dream match-up, with the title of “baddest motherf*cker’ on the line. Complete with a specially commissioned belt.
The pair have been nothing but respectful of each other’s talents. Mutual respect, however, changes nothing in terms of Masvidal’s approach to the fight. “I’m here to do the same thing, that’s damage. That’s turn the off button on him. Make him short circuit. Pit him in outer orbit.”
‘Gamebred’ sounded nothing if not focused just days out from the fight. Motivated by family and legacy, he said. And planning to make a statement. “The only way to separate myself from the pack is to send these people into another dimension. There’s only one way to do that.”
Yet that said, Masvidal added that “I got a lot of tools in the tool shed. I wouldn’t mind displaying all of them.” Or then again, “I wouldn’t mind ending the fight quick.”
The suggestion that he needs to be careful not to push too hard for a finish early, and save something for the later rounds, rankled Masvidal. “That’s not me, man. Wrong guy you’re asking that to,” he retorted. “I’m there to hurt every second of every minute, and every minute of every round. If he survives what I got to give him, my hat’s off to him. But there’s a dog here, and when this dog gets tired, it’s only going to keep biting more. I’m not going to take a step back from nobody.”
“I’m a dog and once that cage is locked, I only know what thing, one speed,” Masvidal finished.
As focused as he is now, there was a point just days ago where it seemed to Jorge Masvidal that the Diaz fight might not happen. That, of course, came when Diaz announced a positive drug test finding. He would eventually be cleared, but not before giving Masvidal more than his fair share of anxiety.
“Day one, I was like ‘it’s going to happen, there’s some type of weirdness going on.’ Then I thought maybe they screwed up somebody’s lab tests, maybe this guy had too much CBD,” he recalled. “I don’t know. I started thinking they might pull the fight, the athletic commission.”
Then the anxiety hit, continued Masvidal. “I had about two large pizzas, fries, soda, glass bottle, because I’m fancy, with the real sugar from Mexico,” he said. At risk of eating his feelings to the point of being out of the fight, ‘Gamebred’ needed an intervention.
“My dad lives with me. He got a hold of the cavalry, the cavalry came over, took credit cards away, restrained me,” he explained. That put an end to the gorging. “I’m good though. I’m good on weight, I’m ready to go,” he said, adding “the anxiety was real for a couple hours. I f*cked up a lot of food.”
Watch Jorge Masvidal’s full UFC 244 open workout press scrum above!
