Las Vegas, NV — Jorge Masvidal was, without question, in the running for Fighter of the Year in 2019. Knockout of the Year was his the moment his knee connected with ‘Funky’ Ben Askren last summer, connecting hard enough to shock the ex-Bellator champ’s hair straight.
With his newfound fame and “Baddest Motherf*cker” belt (won against Nate Diaz at UFC 244 in New York), Masvidal’s profile has skyrocketed. And he has begun to take advantage of that.
Case in point, his new Mezcal, El Recuerdo — launched in conjunction with UFC 246 this weekend. Although, as he told Cageside Press at a tasting following the UFC 246 media day, that’s a project he’s been working on “a little under three years.”
It’s also something special. “Just the way that the stars aligned, how we met,” Masvidal explained. His involvement in the company — he’s both an owner and brand ambassador — stemmed from them giving back to the community, clearly something that matters to Masvidal. The outfit is involved in “helping communities that come from no income, that are farmers. Things that I see that I relate to. I go ‘oh man where were these dudes when I was young, this is amazing!'”
“One of the projects that they have is they have gyms in Mexico for kids that are underprivileged,” Masvidal revealed. “They don’t charge them anything. Just go and train, just work out. They’re going to have boxing as well. When they were showing me this, I was like ‘oh man, this was meant to be.’ These guys are giving so much back to the community, and on top of that, I love their Mezcal.”
Masvidal also has something else planned a little later this year: a pop-up Pizza stand in New York. “We got a pop-up for pizza where, I’ve contacted a couple friends of mine that are high-end chefs. They’re going to make some pizza, we’re going to bring it to New York, and I’m just going to hang out with the fans, serve pizza and take pictures,” Masvidal revealed to Cageside Prss. “I’m literally going to be in a chef’s outfit serving the pizzas. It’s going to be a blast, I’m going to have a ball.”
Chef’s outfit? But has he ever worked in a restaurant? Turns out, Masvidal has — but not for long. “I got fired in like a day.”
“It was something stupid, like I was supposed to put something in the freezer and I left it out,” he recalled. “And when they seen it, they were like ‘what the f*ck,’ and fired on the spot. The first day, I f*cking left it out. It wasn’t meant to be. I was supposed to be at the gym working out.”
It probably worked out for the best. Unless you want Jorge Masvidal delivering your meal via flying knee.
As for the future, there’s been a lot of talk about Masvidal putting his BMF belt up for grabs. You’d better make it worth his while though. “There’s no beating Jorge,” he began. “Second, if I’m putting it on the line, there has to be collateral for it. When I win, what happens? What am I getting out of it? Thin air? I don’t think so.”
Watch our full chat with Jorge Masvidal from the El Recuerdo Mezcal launch party above!
