Jorge Masvidal Says He Wants Fight With Conor McGregor, Predicts ‘Easy Paycheck’ Against Former Champ
Thanks to his last fight at UFC 239, where he knocked out Ben Askren in just five seconds and set a record for fastest knockout in the promotion’s history, Jorge Masvidal has become more visible as a name to watch in the welterweight division. However, it appears that the 34-year-old fighter doesn’t have reigning UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in mind for his next bout, as he admitted in a recent interview that he would prefer to take on a much bigger name in the world of mixed martial arts — former two-division champion Conor McGregor.
As noted by Bleacher Report, Masvidal called out McGregor on Thursday’s edition of The Dan Le Batard Show, where he was asked whether he wants Usman or McGregor as his next opponent. He then revealed that he’s interested in a fight with McGregor, expressing confidence that he could defeat the former featherweight and lightweight champion if they get to face each other in the octagon.
“I want McGregor, man,” Masvidal said. “I want to break his face. I think that’s an easy paycheck. He’s got these cash symbols written all over his face for me. I just don’t see it going his way at all, if I’m honest with you.”
Although Bleacher Report predicted that Masvidal and McGregor could “make for an entertaining pairing” due to their similarly fast-paced fighting styles and penchant for trash talk, McGregor’s future plans as a UFC fighter remain unclear. Per MMA Mania, the 30-year-old Irishman posted a cryptic tweet on Thursday, telling his followers that he’s “done” and that he doesn’t expect them to believe him.
Jorge Masvidal aggressively calls out Conor McGregor, believes he'd earn an easy paycheck and break McGregor's face. ? MORE @ https://t.co/eNngqOsurJ pic.twitter.com/96wYex03AJ
— BarDown (@BarDown) July 12, 2019
While McGregor didn’t explicitly tease any plans to retire from mixed martial arts, MMA Mania speculated that he may have been referring to the two previous times when he took to Twitter and seemingly announced his retirement from the octagon. His last fight took place in October 2018 at UFC 229, where he lost to current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov via submission in the fourth round.
Meanwhile, Masvidal’s comments about wanting to “break” McGregor’s face came shortly after he cut an interview with MMA journalist Ariel Helwani and claimed that his five-second knockout of Askren at UFC 239 didn’t rank as the greatest moment of his fighting career. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Masvidal threw further shade at Askren by saying that he won’t mention him when he tells his future grandchildren about the “a**-whoopings” he gave out during his fighting career.
