Jorge Masvidal may have lost to UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman on Saturday night, but he still has plenty of options available to him when looking ahead to what comes next.
After accepting a fight on just six days’ notice, Masvidal still managed to stick around to the final bell with Usman but still came up short in the decision. Now his primary goal is earning a rematch and he’s willing to facing anybody to get there.
Well, anybody not named Colby Covington.
“The fragile guy with the MAGA hat, definitely not him,” Masvidal said when referencing Covington at the UFC 251 post fight press conference. “Cause he got finished by this guy with a full training camp. He had like 12 weeks and he got finished by that guy. That guy’s below me and this dude by a lot.
“Six days’ notice and I was nowhere near getting hurt or getting put out. The gas tank wasn’t the best but I wasn’t going nowhere as far as damage goes. Everybody could see that. So definitely not that punk.”
Masvidal and Covington have engaged in a very public war of words ever since their friendship transformed into a rivalry. Previously, the welterweights trained together at American Top Team in Florida for several years.
They remained at odds for quite some time even as teammates working under the same roof but Covington recently split with the team to strike out on his own.
While that may be a marketable fight, Masvidal just doesn’t see how that does much for him after Covington was finished by Usman this past December.
“Besides you and a couple reporters in here, nobody knows that guy,” Masvidal said. “And he just got finished by the guy that I fought on six days’ notice. He got his jaw broken, had to run out of there.
“I don’t think he’s at this level. But I don’t know who it’s going to be. Whoever makes the most sense for us.”
Another name that was brought up to him on Saturday night was Leon Edwards, who is currently riding an eight fight win streak in the division.
Following his knockout win over Darren Till in 2019, Masvidal got into an altercation with Edwards after they were exchanging words backstage. Masvidal ended up throwing a quick combination of punches before security could intervene and separate them before a brawl could truly break out.
“Leon Edwards, I don’t know,” Masvidal said about the fight. “If the numbers make sense, or whoever it is that the numbers makes sense, and it gets me closer to the title.”
Edwards was actually offered the fight with Usman several weeks ago but he turned down the opportunity due to bad timing in large part because of the lockdown in the United Kingdom due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With UFC president Dana White already declaring Gilbert Burns as the next No. 1 contender to face Usman, that would leave Edwards and Masvidal without opponents.
Whether it’s that fight or another one, Masvidal mostly seems concerned with fights that will allow him to eventually work his way back to title contention.
“Definitely whoever it takes but we’ll pick the right opponents,” Masvidal said. “I won’t fight a Joe Blow or an up and comer. We’ll make sure that it’s the right fight to get me to the title or whatever it is that I’ve got to do to get to the title.”
