Jorge Masvidal would return to lightweight for just one thing

On the cusp of getting his first UFC title shot at welterweight, Jorge Masvidal has not entirely ruled out a return to 155 pounds.

Former Strikeforce lightweight title challenger Masvidal (35-13 MMA, 11-4 UFC), entered the UFC as a lightweight, winning five of his first six fights.

He picked up wins over the likes of Michael Chiesa and James Krause, but eventually, Masvidal decided to move up to welterweight, a move that proved to pay dividends for his career.

While the cut down to 155 pounds was never easy for Masvidal, he admits that he has unfinished business at lightweight, never getting the opportunities he thinks he deserved.

But he’d only consider dropping back down under one condition.

“I would just have to be rewarded so mother(expletive) handsomely for me to drop down to ’55 and compete with anybody,” Masvidal said in a video on his YouTube channel. “But I would love to do it because I felt like I never got my fair due shot at 155. I beat a lot of top-class competitors before I came into the UFC at 155; they never gave me a shot to fight a top-10 guy.

“It wasn’t until 170, they gave me top-10 and top-5 guys, so I never got, I felt, my fair due shot at ’55. I beat a lot of good guys when I was down there, in the UFC, as well.”

Masvidal isn’t the largest 170-pounder on fight night, but not draining his body has given him extra power, that he’s been able to use to stop his last three opponents in emphatic fashion.

“The moolah is going to talk man; 155 is such a battle with my weight,” Masvidal said. “Once I’m somewhere around at 170-173 pounds, I’m at 5 percent body fat already, 6 percent body fat, so I don’t have a lot of room to play with to still get to 155. It’s a lot of water. It’s always been a lot of water, and that doesn’t leave me the night of the fight in the best shape that I could possibly be in.

“Like how I compete at 170, I have that explosion. I could explode a little bit more and for longer. At ’55, it would be a little different, but that’s not to say I couldn’t win one and that I couldn’t make the weight.”

On the verge of getting a title shot at 170 pounds against champion Kamaru Usman, a drop down is likely not the first thing on Masvidal’s mind, unless the opportunity is worth it.

“If they were to cop up that money, I’d be in a hurry to get down there and show what I’m worth,” Masvidal said.