On June 1st, Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz will face off again, but this time in a boxing ring where they are scheduled for 10 rounds at the Kia Forum, in Los Angeles.
The two first met back in 2019 when they fought in the inaugural UFC ‘BMF’ title fight, with Jorge Masvidal getting the better of Nate Diaz that night.
After leaving the UFC after becoming a free agent, Diaz took his talents to the boxing ring, where he faced Jake Paul on August 5th, subsequently losing that fight via unanimous decision.
In April last year, Masvidal announced his retirement from the UFC after suffering a dominant loss to Gilbert Burns.
Despite that, the 39-year-old believes he will return to the UFC in due course, and has highlighted who he would like his comeback fight to be against.
The origin of Masvidal’s and Justin Gaethje’s beef
Following Masvidal’s retirement from the UFC, the ‘BMF’ title became vacant. Justin Gaethje went on to fight Masvidal’s teammate, Dustin Poirier for the title, where he scored an emphatic head kick knockout in round two.
Masvidal was the one who presented Gaethje with the title, and since then, the two have shared some words about each other.
Before Gaethje’s UFC 300 fight this past Saturday, Masvidal claimed he wanted to break Gaethje’s orbital bone. Speaking to Daniel Cormier prior to his fight, Gaethje replied: “The only orbital that got broken was his against Kamaru (Usman). He cheap-shotted Colby Covington and didn’t break his orbital. He is so irrelevant right now.”
‘The Highlight’ lost the ‘BMF’ title at UFC 300 this past weekend after he was knocked out in round five by Max Holloway.
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Jorge Masvidal says Justin Gaethje would be an ‘easy’ return fight to the UFC
“That guy has Homer Simpson (levels) of CTE now, I don’t want to talk too much s*** about him because he just got flatlined, but I’m hoping our paths cross in the UFC because it’d be a very good comeback fight for me.” Masvidal said on The MMA Hour.
Gaethje has made it clear that he won’t stick around for longer than he needs to in the sport, and was seemingly making one last run towards the undisputed lightweight title. After suffering a brutal knockout loss, it is unclear what his next step will be.
The bad blood between Masvidal and the 35-year-old may be enough to tempt the UFC into trying to make that fight, somewhere down the line.
Masvidal believes that it would be an ‘easy’ fight and he would ‘light up’ Gaethje in a possible matchup.
“It’d be an easy fight for me, he literally walks forward eating shots with no head movement no nothing. He’s definitely a guy I’d love to f****** stick my fist to, nothing personal (from me), he seems like he’s a little personal that I’m making (fight) picks and stuff.
“I’d love to bust his face up. Let him heal from this because he might not ever come back the same. But if our paths do cross, I’d light that motherf***** up.” Masvidal added.