Jorge Masvidal has been accused of ‘hiding’ from Oban Elliott, who wants to protect his mentor Chael Sonnen.
The former UFC welterweight title contender and BMF champion retired from the octagon in 2023 after a four-fight losing streak. He briefly came back to the boxing ring to rematch Nate Diaz last summer, but lost that as well.
Now, he appears to be planning a return to the octagon, and has one prospect regularly calling him out. Masvidal has a long-time feud going with fellow legend Sonnen, and it seems that the former middleweight and light-heavyweight wants to offer Elliott as his proxy.
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Jorge Masvidal told he is ‘hiding’ from Oban Elliott ahead of UFC return
Since announcing last year that he planned to make a return to the octagon, Jorge Masvidal has been hotly pursued by Oban Elliott. It seems to have been a one-sided pursuit, with the Welsh star insisting that he deserves a big name after an explosive start to his UFC career.
“I think that long-haired silly man might be hiding,” Elliott told JNMEDIAUK over the weekend. “Because I don’t think he can just jump back in the UFC and fight who he wants. If he’s barking up the Chael Sonnen tree, you’re barking up my tree, son.
“You might want to change weight class, you might want to take the sport a little seriously, get rid of that belly you have and drop back down to lightweight. Because trust me, you don’t want to be walking around the welterweight division while I’m around.”
Oban Elliott is now pursuing Bryan Battle showdown
With the Masvidal fight now seeming less and less likely, Elliott is looking for a different fight to land himself a spot in the top 15. He has called out the controversial Bryan Battle, who seems to have accepted with the fight now in the works from the UFC.
“We’ve been talking to the UFC trying to get a date locked in,” Elliott explained. “There’s something with the schedule going on. Bryan Battle? That would be a great fight, I think he knows that and the fans would love it.
“If you give us an opportunity to build that fight that would be spectacular. We can fight and when I get rid of Bryan Battle that will get me a ranking spot. I’m out to chase the big dogs, I’m not just going to say ‘I’ll take whoever they put in front of me’. I’m out to call shots.”