It’s been just over five years to the day since a Jorge Masvidal-headlined UFC pay-per-view entered the history books.
The UFC 251 PPV took place on July 11, 2020, marking the promotion’s first event during the COVID-19 pandemic to take place outside of the United States and the debut of ‘Fight Island’ in Abu Dhabi.
Headlined by three title fights, the event was a major success, attracting 1.3 million pay-per-view buys to tie with the Brock Lesnar-topped UFC 100 card as the joint-most successful PPV not to feature the sport’s biggest star, Conor McGregor.
But the highly anticipated card did not always appear set to do so well, especially when the main event got thrown up in the air on late notice.
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Jorge Masvidal cut 20 pounds in 6 days for short-notice UFC 251 title fight
Originally, a welterweight title clash between Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns was slated to headline a lineup that also featured Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway 2 for the featherweight belt and Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo for the then-vacant bantamweight gold.
But when Burns dropped out after testing positive for COVID-19, the UFC had to scramble to save the main event. And to do so, up stepped Jorge Masvidal.
‘Gamebred’ was offered a short-notice shot following a year in which he had risen to stardom, first by knocking out Darren Till and then due to Masvidal’s record knockout against Ben Askren and inaugural BMF title win against Nate Diaz.
To make it to the cage, Masvidal had to cut 20 pounds of weight in just six days — a journey that he detailed in a YouTube video with a title that mentioned he ‘nearly passed out’.
“(The weight cut) wasn’t fun,” Masvidal told ESPN the following year. “It was a lot of weight.
“I was 35 at the time. As you get older, the weight (cut) just sucks, you know? The last three pounds took longer than the first 17. Just trying to get those last three pounds out was a headache and a half.
“When I got to 18 pounds (off), I started like, ‘Wow, this hurts,’ but all I kept thinking is, ‘It’ll mean nothing if I go out there and knock this guy out, so I’m going to make the weight like a man,’ because I’ve never missed weight,” Masvidal continued.
“I signed that dotted line. Let’s compete. I’m going to make this weight. If not, then I shouldn’t have taken the fight. That would have been the coward’s way out. I made sure I made the weight and then gave it my best.”
Masvidal was ultimately unable to capitalize on the opportunity come fight night, dropping every round to Usman en route to a lopsided unanimous decision in the then-champion’s favor.
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Jorge Masvidal was beaten more convincingly in his second UFC title shot
Masvidal’s willingness to cut significant weight and head to Abu Dhabi on late notice in 2020 earned him a second shot at dethroning Usman months later.
On the back of a full camp, ‘Gamebred’ vowed to find the kill shot before the rematch reached the scorecards. Instead, though, he was the victim of such a strike.
To the surprise of many, Usman knocked Masvidal out cold at UFC 261 in April 2021. A brutal right hand and devastating follow-up shots marked the first clean KO for ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ since 2017 and added a fourth successful defense to his reign.
Masvidal would compete in just two more fights in the UFC, dropping decisions to both Colby Covington and Gilbert Burns before retiring.