Jorge Masvidal is looking to get into the ring to settle some beef.
Last year, Masvidal retired from combat sports following his loss to Gilbert Burns at UFC 287. However, “Gamebred” kicked off 2024 by announcing he was coming out of retirement and was looking to compete in either boxing or MMA later this year. A number of names have been floated as possible opponents, but former rival Nate Diaz appears to be the most likely, with Masvidal recently posting a picture in Diaz’s hometown of Stockton, Calif.
Speaking on Wednesday’s episode of The MMA Hour, Masvidal explained what that photo was about, and where things stand with Diaz.
“I was out in Cali for a couple days and I was like, you know what, let me stop by Stockton,” Masvidal said. “I’ve never been there, I heard the tacos are good there, maybe I’ll run into Nate and we can make this fight happen. So I was like yeah, let’s go over there. Took the squad over there, wrote down my number on a piece of paper, started handing it out to people who looked like they might know Nate Diaz. I’m at the butcher shop and he was like, ‘I know Nate well!’ I was like, that’s funny because he’s vegan. But whatever, I’m looking for beef, so you just let me know how to find this motherf******.
“I heard Nate’s not that good with the technology. Neither am I, so f*** it, maybe we’ll just do this old-school style. Just meet up on the face to face and make this s*** happen.”
Masvidal and Diaz has a memorable fight at UFC 244, where Masvidal won the inaugural ‘BMF’ belt, a title created by Diaz during a post-fight speech, with a third-round TKO. Afterwards, Diaz fought twice more in the UFC before leaving the promotion in 2022 to pursue other interests, including a boxing match against Jake Paul last year. Diaz lost that by unanimous decision, but Masvidal believes that was mostly due to underestimating Paul.
“I just didn’t think for that fight that he was prepared,” Masvidal said. “I think he just f****** said, ‘I’m fighting this Disney kid,’ and he came up off the couch and maybe two-three weeks he trained to get ready for Jake and he didn’t give it the type of shape that he should have been in. I know for a fact he won’t make that mistake with me because he’s knows I’m trying to put him out, and if he’s not in shape I’m going to 100 percent put him out quicker. One thing I can say about that fight is I don’t think he respected him as much as he should have.”
Of course, whether or not a fight will happen is still up in the air. Diaz has not competed since the Paul boxing match, though he’s kept his name in the headlines with a possible MMA fight against Paul and teasing a return to the UFC. But Masvidal hopes they can get something to work before then, as he has been given the greenlight by the UFC to pursue his interests in boxing.
“There’s no deal in place but I would love to fight this motherf***** in a boxing match,” Masvidal said. “Obviously I would have loved to have done it in MMA when he was free and I was free. It just wasn’t working out. I was competing against Usman for the title during that time he was with the UFC, and then shortly after that he … finished out his contract, so we didn’t get to make that happen. Now the UFC is so gracious and we struck a great deal. They’re going to let me box for a couple matches. Nate could be one of them, hopefully.
“I would love to do it. We’ve got unfinished business. We’re both guys who get after it and we’re trying to hurt the opponent. I think in boxing he gets a lot of credit because he’s always worked with a lot of great boxers and his standout thing is jiu-jitsu and boxing, so why not do straight boxing? Because obviously the kicks f***** him up in MMA. Cut up his face, dropped him to the body, dropped him to the head. Two times out of the three that I dropped him were due to kicks. So it’s like the Ben Askren thing. If we’re going to boxing, you don’t have to worry about the knee, c***sucker.”
And if not Diaz, there are no shortage of possible opponents for Masvidal, one of the most popular fighters in MMA. But “Gamebred” has one name in mind, if Diaz won’t step up.
“I can’t stand that lesbian-looking transitional b**** Chael Sonnen,” Masvidal said. “And no offense to lesbians because there are some hot, cool-ass lesbians out there. It’s just him with those glasses and that haircut, he looks like he’s in transition. I would love to bust up Chael but he would never get into the boxing ring with me. They’ve offered him all types of crazy money and all he can do are video rants on his cheesy channels.
“But Chael would be one guy I would love to break his eye orbital. Just because he’s such a cheating f***. He’s gotten caught with more substances in his body than any other competitor in history. At one time he had six or seven difference substances in his body for one of his title fights. You’re a f****** piece of s*** human being. You could go out there and hurt somebody just so you can f****** make a paycheck? Because when you’re on steroids, as everybody knows you become a super soldier. So Chael would be somebody I would love to f*** up. And I would just tell him do all the steroids you want, it doesn’t matter. I’m still going to break your eye orbital.”
“He’s just a crotch-sniffing b**** at his best,” Masvidal continued. “At his best. Steroids, seven strands of steroids, training camp six months, all he would do is hug the leg and f****** pray for a f****** decision. Not my cup of tea obviously. Plus he’s a fake-ass gangster. This guy’s got f****** fraud real estate charges? He definitely ain’t no f****** gangster. It’s that new-age s***. People say s*** and do s*** and then your little followers believe it. Him and Colby are the same cloth: b******.”
But whoever it ends up being against, Masvidal simply hopes it will be soon. Having resolved his legal case with Colby Covington back in November, Masvidal now has nothing hanging over his head except Father Time, and he’s hopeful to get back to punching people in the near future.
“I got no idea,” Masvidal said. “I ain’t got no charges, no cases on me, no probation, so we can make this s*** happen sooner than later. I know it’s going to happen this year I just don’t know [when]. There’s a lot of paperwork and all that bulls*** politics, but I’m ready to throw down.”
