When Dustin Poirier was forced out of his UFC 230 lightweight showdown with Nate Diaz, Jorge Masvidal offered to step in and fight Diaz in his place. Although Masvidal had just wrapped up a reality television stint, he felt confident that he was in good enough shape to fight. He just needed Diaz to agree to fight at 170 pounds, rather than 155.
Unfortunately, this veritable dream matchup never came to fruition. Even though it was clearly a fight that most fans were drooling over, the UFC instead pulled Diaz from the UFC 230 lineup altogether.
For Jorge Masvidal, this was a disappointing turn of events. In Diaz, he saw a kindred spirit, and the kind of opponent with which he could co-author a truly unforgettable scrap.
“I really wanted that fight,” Jorge Masvidal lamented on episode 101 of BJPENN.COM Radio. “I just wanted to test myself more than anything. Just get straight in [after reality TV] and then get right back into the mix with another great fighter. Somebody who’s gonna come push the pace no matter what.
“It would’ve been a good test of wills and obviously I’m gonna put the money on me every time, bro.”
Despite the fact that he hasn’t fought in nearly a year, and that he’s been busy with his reality tv stint, Masvidal believes this fight with Diaz was one he could have won.
“I think I would’ve matched up very well,” he said. “I would’ve put the money on me. I’ve got a lot of respect for Nate and [his brother] Nick. Mainly because of their will. They don’t have the biggest skill set in the gam but they probably got some of the most heart in the game.
“You can’t beat those guys with a stick,” he continued. “You could take their leg off, you could break their arm, they’re just gonna keep coming. And that’s a fight right? Everybody was excited of just the rumor of that even happening. Man, you’re gonna put two guys in there that don’t give a fuck about pain and fatigue and they’re just gonna throw the whole time. That’s exciting, bro.
“I wanna buy that fight. I would watch that one. I would pay good money for that fight.”
If Diaz and the UFC had agreed to Masvidal’s offer, he believes the fight would have had to serve as the UFC 230 main event. It was simply too good a potential matchup not to headline the card.
“[It] has to be a headliner, has to be something big,” Jorge Masvidal said. “Dogs fighting dogs is what it is. It would’ve been two fighting dogs just throwing down. That’s always fun to see. When you got game opponents, that’s always fun to see. When you got a guy that is a quitter already and you’re like, ‘oh, as soon as it gets tough this guy will find a way to quit himself out of it.’ You’re kind of not as invested in that fight as when you got two dogs that are gonna fucking look for blood the whole time.”
Despite Jorge Masvidal’s brave offer to step in against Nate Diaz, and the near certainty that the fight would have been fantastic, it just wasn’t in the cards. The UFC removed Diaz from UFC 230, and Masvidal moved on.
“Before I knew it, they’d pulled them out of the card so we didn’t even pursue it anymore, because obviously the dude they wanted to fight isn’t on the card no more,” he said.
While Jorge Masvidal is willing to accept short notice fights in theory going forward, don’t expect to him to fight just anybody if he hasn’t had a full training camp.
“I was only willing to take that short notice like that with a game opponent. A big risk to reward kind of fight.”
Who do you think would have come out on top in a short-notice welterweight fight between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/15/2018.