Jorge Masvidal Might Be in the Fighting Form of His Life… But He’s Not Getting the Conor McGregor Fight… So Says UFC President Dana White…
It’s been an amazing year so far for Jorge Masvidal. The Miami fighter has smashed both Darren Till and Ben Askren in devastating style. The second KO against Askren is the best knockout of the year so far, as he came flying across the octagon with a knee that knocked out ‘Funky’ in five seconds.
His stock has never been higher and he obviously wants to capitalise on that. So he’s pushing for either a title fight against Kamaru Usman or the money fight against Conor McGregor. The Notorious hasn’t fought all year and looks unlikely to return until early 2020 at least.
Unfortunately for Masvidal, Dana White has effectively shut down any hope of him fighting the Irishman. Keep on reading to find out the reason below.
Too Big
It’s a size issue. Masvidal has actually fought as a lightweight before, but it’s at 170lbs where he’s truly found his stride. McGregor has also fought twice as a welterweight – against Nate Diaz, another former lightweight. But UFC President Dana White believes that the Cuban-American fighter is simply too big for McGregor.
“Masvidal’s too big for Conor,” White said. “(McGregor) shouldn’t have (fought at 170). I hated that he did it. Not only did I hate that he did it once, I hated that he did it twice. There’s plenty of fights for (Masvidal) in his weight division without Conor. He’s too big for Conor. Conor doesn’t belong at 170. He’s got the balls to fight at 170, but he doesn’t belong there. Hell no, (it won’t happen).”
Of course, they wouldn’t want their prize asset pulverised by a 34-year-old would they?
Timeframe
McGregor hasn’t fought since getting bullied by Khabib Nurmagamedov back in October 2018. Now eight months on, there’s no sign of him coming back. The rumour mill suggests that we’ll see him early next year. It would make sense for him to fight again, just to reignite his brand. It won’t be a fight against the lightweight champion anyway.
“I think he’ll either be back this year or early next year,” White said. “We’ll see how this whole thing plays out in September. No, (he doesn’t get the Nurmagomedov-Poirier winner), but it’ll shake a lot of things up, whoever wins that fight.”
Potential Opponents
The big question then is, who will he fight? Not the champion and not Masvidal. Really there are three options and it depends on who is available when. The first is the winner of Donald Cerrone v Justin Gaethje. Those two men are absolute savages and whoever wins would make sense for McGregor. They’re ranked and have pull factor.
Another option is Tony Ferguson. He absolutely deserves the next title shot, but you wouldn’t bet against the UFC making a title eliminator and putting him in a money fight against McGregor. It’s the next best thing anyway. Then there’s the Nate Diaz trilogy fight – if he gets past Anthony Pettis.
So there are options. It all depends on what the Irishman wants to do.
