Masvidal On A Diaz Rematch: ‘Guaranteed, We Are Running It Back’

Jorge Masvidal has another shot at welterweight gold on April 24th, but he hasn’t forgotten about the unfinished business he has with Nate Diaz.

Jorge Masvidal is the UFC’s newest confirmed PPV selling superstar, and as we learned with Conor McGregor, these superstars get a bit of special treatment sometimes. That’s why Masvidal will be headlining the upcoming UFC 261 event on April 24th against Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title, despite having not fought since Usman blanked him on the scorecards in their last meeting at UFC 251.

Immediately after that disappointing performance, Masvidal said he felt like he knew what he needed to do to adjust and beat Usman. So he didn’t mind the relatively short four weeks of prep for the rematch after the UFC announced the fight in mid-March.

“I’m fighting Usman, I already fought him on six days,” Masvidal said on ESPN’s Helwani Show. “I know what he has, I know what he can offer at his best. One thing that I took away from our first fight is he’s not as mean as he proclaims he is. I know he likes to jiggle his s**t on air like he’s Terry Crews, but he’s not mean. He’s not a mean guy.”

“There’s no way, if this was turned around and he stepped in against me on six days notice, that I don’t do everything in my power to leave him unconscious or break his arm or hurt him. He’s not that mean guy so I don’t feel like I need any more time than what I got. It’s perfect.”

Win or lose, Masvidal has a number of interesting fights ahead of him … if his opponents and the UFC can get on the same page with each other. Before the Usman rematch came together there was talk of a Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz rematch, but that never materialized. Jorge sounds about as informed as we are on why that didn’t come together.

“[Diaz] couldn’t come to terms with the UFC, this and that, blah blah blah,” Masvidal said. “I don’t know. I don’t know what goes on on the side. We tried to make that fight happen, my camp was talking to his camp, it didn’t happen. I don’t know what the exact logistics are, he didn’t like the date, he thought about even more and realized this guy is gonna destroy his face. Maybe he wants to have a modeling career or something, I don’t know.”

Asked whether he still felt like he ‘owed’ Nate a rematch, Masvidal said it would happen.

“I told him I’d run it back, so you can believe that we’re running it back,” he said. “I don’t know when it’s going to happen, this year, the fight after this. I dunno. But guaranteed, we are running it back. At some point. So long as he says yes, I am more than willing to break his ribs, his face, his spirit again.”

Masvidal implied similar negotiation issues stopped a fight with Colby Covington from coming together, which is why the Usman fight fell into place. Why didn’t Jorge vs. Colby work out?

“Cuz Colby’s a b**tch,” Masvidal said. “They offered him good money. And then the Colby deal was we already knew we had the Usman fight. So why would I be fighting the number 2 guy who just got his jaw broken, left running out of the ring, didn’t talk on Twitter for months cuz he got his jaw broken. Why don’t I go fight the guy who broke his jaw?”

“I’ve already been beating the crap out of Colby for God knows how long,” he continued. “I’m going to beat the crap out of him too before my career is done. I’m gonna fight the biggest best fights possible. Then I’ll come down and fight these motherf**kers.”

“Colby is someone that I really can’t stand so I really want to hurt this guy in a way that I’ve never done. I want to make it seem like the Ben Askren fight was merciful compared to what I’m going to do to Colby. Guaranteed. And that fight will take place, but when I f**king say so. Because remember: who the f**k is Colby. He fought Usman, generated under 300,000 PPVs. What did he do with Woodley? He just doesn’t generate.”