When it comes to breaking down his potential opponents, Jorge Masvidal has it all boiled down to a basic equation.
The UFC’s “BMF” champion appeared on “The Rich Eisen Show” in Miami on Tuesday, where he explained how he takes a mathematical approach to his upcoming bouts, including a potential matchup with Conor McGregor.
“If you don’t know too much about fighting, it might sound cocky, but a good football coach that’s seeing openings constantly, he goes, ‘Man, we can run the ball, we can throw it,’ all this craziness,” Masvidal explained. “It’s just math to me, man, and when I see Conor, I see a lot of holes from a technical standpoint. (If) I’m a coach and I’m advising my athlete the best way to beat this guy, I see many math scenarios there.”
By “math scenarios,” Masvidal explained how he views each potential opponent as an equation to be solved, and he said he has a matchup with McGregor all laid out like a football play or a math equation.
“I see X’s and O’s, I see the square root of his face times my numbers, I see all these things constantly,” he said. “This is like the only thing I’m a savant at. When it comes to fighting, everybody here has a number on their face, (or) division, multiplication. It’s just something that God gifted me with, so I’m really good at it.”
When “Gamebred” applies his “Masvidal math” to a potential McGregor matchup, he sees an equation that produces a winning result for himself.
“Not that his game is not good, because his game is great, but when I do the math and I see the numbers in my head and I see the openings that I can take advantage of – I lean towards me very heavy,” he said.
Despite his willingness to face McGregor, and his strong confidence in victory if he does, “Gamebred” says that the matchup is looking unlikely, with McGregor’s team – and UFC president Dana White – seemingly keen to take “The Notorious” in a different direction.
“You can’t ask me that; you’ve got to ask Conor that,” he said when asked why the fight wasn’t happening next.
“The UFC has a president, like the CEO or whatever they want to call him. And when they asked him why the fight’s not happening, he said it in the nicest way possible, and he said I was too much man for him, meaning I’m too much man for him, I can’t ask this guy to fight me. It is what it is.
“My will, my size, my determination, mixed in with I’m not a quitter – I’ve never tapped in my life – he knows it’s a different type of dog over here. I’m too much man for him in every way it could possibly be said. Our management have been talking back and forth. It’s not in their future. It’s not something that they want.”
Although Masvidal seems resigned to the possibility of McGregor not fighting him, the Miami native said he had no issue with the Irishman and wished him well on his quest to recapture the UFC lightweight title. But he finished with a warning, just in case the Dubliner has a change of heart and fancies another trip back up to welterweight.
“Go do your thing,” Masvidal said. “Go back down to your division, do whatever you’re going do. Whether you’re going to win or lose, that’s none of my business. Go do your stuff. But at 170, there’s only one sheriff in town.
“I’m not saying he’s scared, because anybody that makes that walk, that gets into the cage and fights the champions that he’s fought, it’s not that he’s scared. But it’s not a good outcome (if he fights me).”
Jorge Masvidal's Conor McGregor equation: 'I see the square root of his face, times my numbers'
