The answer is no if Gilbert Burns wants a five-round fight with Jorge Masvidal for the BMF belt at UFC 287.
Unless the UFC wants to renegotiate the deal Masvidal just signed, “Gamebred” is good with a three-round co-main on April 8.
“[If] they pay me BMF money, which the UFC ain’t going to up it up for more money, so sorry Gilbert,” Masvidal said Monday on The MMA Hour. “I already got my contract. I already signed my s***. I could give a f*** less.”
A few hours before Masvidal’s interview, Burns pitched the idea to UFC President Dana White, including a picture of the silver BMF belt Masvidal fought Nate Diaz for almost three years ago at UFC 244.
Masvidal’s TKO win over Diaz was another star-making moment. But Masvidal doesn’t need that bump any more. He needs to win fights, and he believes Burns is the right opponent to snap his three-fight skid, which started with a pair of losses to now-former champ Kamaru Usman.
“Three rounds is more than enough that I need for Gilbert,” he said. “I like all the publicity and extra that he’s putting into it, but brother, three rounds is all I need for that.”
Burns is fresh off an impressive submission win over vet Neil Magny at UFC 283. The bout was booked after Burns said Masvidal repeatedly turned down several offers to fight.
Masvidal acknowledged he was held up by several distractions that included his ongoing criminal case with Colby Covington, several injury and health issues, and lack of time to prepare.
Now in a better place, Masvidal is working to round out gaps in his wrestling that have been exposed by previous opponents.
“I’m glad it’s a guy like Gilbert. … I’ve been in this sport, and it’s only been to fight the best of the best of the best in the world, and he’s perfect in a lot of ways for me to test my grappling, because I know he’s going to come test me in grappling,” Masvidal said. “I know he’s going to talk a big game that he’s going to come and strike with me and all this BMF s***, but at the end of the day, I’m ‘Gamebred,’ he’s Gilbert, he’s going to go for the takedown, 100 miles per hour and hope that he gets in, and if that fails, he’ll come strike with me.
“So I’m going to be prepared to grapple him, and the next and the next and the next, because I know I’ve got the hands to beat all these guys. I’ve got the knees and elbows that change lives in seconds. I’ve just got to fine-tune a couple things, and I’ve been working on it.”
Masvidal fell short to Covington in their UFC 272 grudge match when he was unable to match the one-time interim champ’s frenetic pace and grappling skills. But the welterweight division’s recent shift opened a door to close out his career in triumph.
If Leon Edwards is able to defeat Kamaru Usman a second time at UFC 286, Masvidal could cash in his longstanding grudge with the British champ in the octagon.
“If you ask me, 100 percent I think it happens,” Masvidal said. “I think that’s just the way it was meant to be. That’s how it’s lined up, and from there, I’ve got a lot of other fights. But we’ll [cross] that bridge when I get there.
“But why not believe in that? And if it doesn’t happen, whatever, f*** it. I still trained my ass off, whoever’s next. If I’ve got to do one more fight, two more fights, however many more fights, I just want to put myself in the best possible place to win. I want to stack all the chips on my side.”
Standing in the way of that dream is Burns. The Brazilian chose Masvidal as a springboard for his campaign to get another shot at gold after falling short to Usman. Masvidal will have to make his own case.
“It’s nothing personal,” he said. “I actually like Gilbert. Somebody tells me Gilbert is fighting, I’ll sit down and watch that motherf***** on my phone. He comes to fight. I remember when Gilbert came in and was just a jiu-jitsu guy, hugging people, he was like nervous, then he came up to 170 and started laying people out. He’s a great fighter, and I think he’s going to be a great fighter for a while, even after me.
“But on April 8, I’m going to clean his clock. On April 8, I’m going to beat the brakes off that dude. He’s going to pull up to the drive-thru, and you know what, he’s going to get the same thing that Leon’s going to get after I get to Gilbert. And you know what, maybe [Usman] gets another foot to the face … and then I’m fighting Leon. This is a movie ending. You couldn’t even put this in a movie, and now all these book deals that they’ve been sending me, movies they’ve been sending me, ‘10x that, motherf*****! Don’t even talk to me! Forget last week’s deal, this is this today’s deal, motherf*****!’”
