’BMF’-mästaren Jorge Masvidal fick inatt se sig besegrad av welterviktsmästaren Kamaru Usman genom enhälligt domslut. Matchen blev efteråt något kritiserad för lågt underhållningsvärde då den normalt dynamiske Masvidal mattades och kontrollerades av en taktisk Usman under matchens gång där utmanaren trycktes mot stängslet och fick spendera mycket tid och ansträngning för att försvara sig mot nedtagningar.
Även om Masvidal lyckades hålla sig stående under större delen av matchen fick han aldrig utrymme att på allvar få igång sin striking.
Efter 25 minuter fick Usman segern via 50-45, 50-45, och 49-46. Masvidal ansåg vid post-fight presskonferensen att Usman var den bättre fightern och att han själv gjorde många misstag. MMA Mania citerade honom som följande:
I hate coming up short. I’m not going to make no excuses, he was the better man tonight. There was some areas where I didn’t give him enough credit, and some areas where I felt with a better training camp I could definitely surpass him. I think I showed a lot of my wrestling. On six days notice, that I’m not to0 easy to take down or hold down on the ground.
I made a lot of mistakes, I tried to fight in spots. I felt like my gas tank wasn’t in the greatest place. And he fought in better spots, right when I’d get loose and start to open up he was able to clinch and take me back into his world. So I’m not going to take anything away from him. He won fair and square. I’ll do anything it takes to get back in front of that man and compete and get my hand raised.
Masvidal svarade även på när han kan tänkas återvända till buren:
Since I moved up to 170 I haven’t had to cut more than eight or nine pounds and it’s something that when I left 155 I told myself I wouldn’t be doing. So for the next fight I’ll make sure I’m back on schedule, I got barely any weight to cut and I’ll be feeling great whoever the opponent is. I don’t know if I’ll be coming back at the end of the year or early next year. I’m going to sit down with my management and figure that out. But whoever it is next year I just want to come back and get a stoppage and be in peak shape, have a six pack when I get out there. Look right, you know?
Right now I’m just very butt hurt. I want to do some sprints, I want to hit a punching bag, I want to get on a treadmill. I want to take out my frustrations. I want to elevate my cardio to a new level. I know I can do more. A lot of people make excuses for me, six days notice. But it’s no excuse. Once you sign that dotted line, well you shouldn’t have signed that dotted line if you weren’t in the best shape ever to compete for a world title. I just feel like that. I just feel that … I should have been in better overall shape. So it’s just a matter of time before I get back in there.
Vill inte möta Covington härnäst
När det kommer till vem han kan tänka sig möta härnäst ville Masvidal inte ge något klart svar men han var tydlig med att han i alla fall inte vill möte tidigare träningspartnern och numera fienden Colby Covington:
The fragile guy with the MAGA hat? Definitely not him. Because he got finished by this guy with a full training camp. He had like 12 weeks and he got finished so I think that guy is below me by a lot. Six days notice and I was nowhere near getting hurt or getting put out. The gas tank wasn’t the best but I wasn’t going anywhere as far as damage goes, everybody could see that. So definitely not that punk. Leon Edwards? I dunno. If the numbers make sense, whoever it is, if the numbers make sense and it gets me closer to the title.
Anser sig ha formulan för att besegra Usman i rematchen
Med nattens erfarenhet bakom sig och ett fullständigt träningsläger nästa gång anser Masvidal att han nu kan besegra Usman i deras rematch:
I got a good formula in my head on how to beat him the next time. I thought I had the formula, now I know the formula. It takes a lot of gas tank, a lot of conditioning, a lot of wrestling rounds with high level guys. So I definitely got a square root on how to beat this guy.
Masvidal har i och med förlusten nu 35-13 i record.
