Jorge Masvidal is all about competition. But a little bad blood never hurt to sell a fight.
“Gamebred” meets Nate Diaz in the boxing ring this Saturday, nearly five years after their first meeting at UFC 244 that Masvidal won by doctor stoppage to become the inaugural “BMF” champion.
For the most part, Masvidal and Diaz have spoken respectfully of each other. Both fighters became fan favorites in the UFC for their exciting styles and their unfiltered personalities. That realness bubbled over in a chaotic way when their teams threw down following a June 7 press conference in Anaheim, Calif.
After that, all bets are off for Masvidal.
“At the end of the day for me, it’s just competing,” Masvidal said speaking to the media at a scrum in Los Angeles. “This one, there’s more at stake for than the last one because every fight, the smallest of the fights or the biggest of the fights have led to this. So I take every fight with the same amount of caution and respect. Whoever I’m fighting has two hands, you know?
“Now, on a personal level, yeah, I don’t like this dude at all, for what happened with my coach and shit. But we’ll figure it out July 6 when we get in there.”
During the brief scrap, several punches were landed by members of Masvidal and Diaz’s teams before the parties were separated. Masvidal, a veteran of 52 pro MMA bouts, flipped the switch when he returned to the gym following the incident.
“It went from boxing setting to kill setting,” Masvidal said. “That’s all I want to do is I want to hurt this dude bad.”
One prominent figure in the post-press conference brawl was Diaz teammate and pro fighter Nick Kohring a.k.a. “Killshot.” He can be seen engaging one-on-one with someone on Masvidal’s side.
Kohring holds a 13-2 record and most recently competed in bare-knuckle boxing for BKFC this pat March, when he defeated Kyle McElroy by first-round knockout.
Had Masvidal been aware of his history, he might have been more aggressive with the Diaz associate. As it stands, he’s confident Killshot will get what’s coming to him one way or another.
“So when I was grabbing [Kohring], swinging him around… I didn’t hit him because I thought it was just a f*cking nobody,” Masvidal said. “Now I found out you’re a pro fighter attacking my coach with another homeboy of yours. Full beans, bro, that p*ssy is going to have to see me or my boys at some point.”
“I’m into scrapping, especially if you mess with my people. That’s what you chose and I’m sure that if he doesn’t cross paths with me, he’s going to cross paths with some devils pretty soon.”
