Kamaru Usman nearly received the ‘three-piece and a soda’ treatment during a heated run-in with Jorge Masvidal. The welterweight champion was at a Radio Row media event in Miami when he had a verbal run-in with the BMF titleholder.
The media event was being held ahead of this weekend’s Super Bowl LIV event where the San Francisco 49ers will face the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Florida-based fighters were invited along to the media festivities when they ran into each other. Despite sharing the same weight class, the 170-pound fighters do not share mutual respect as they quickly started a war of words. Bystanders had to intervene to stop the conflict from escalating any further.
Kamaru Usman goaded Masvidal. In a follow-up statement, he accused ‘Gamebred’ of being a ‘clout chaser’ and of playing up for the camera.
During an interview with ESPN, Masvidal responded to Usman’s digs and gave his take on the verbal altercation.
“[It’s] Just another Wednesday, me running into haters and people talking sh*t and blaspheming my name and stuff, and just staying things that are not true,” Masvidal said. “I just wanted this person to say it to my face and address it to my face. [And] He’s a coward and he got all butt-hurt and stuff.
“[I’d] f*ck you up [Usman] when it’s between me and you. I know a lot of people hear this and think ‘why you gotta be so mean?’ Motherf*cker one, ‘cos that’s me too. This motherf*cker should have never opened his mouth started talking all the wild sh*t that he’s been talking when he can’t back it up man.
“If I ever get lucky enough to get my hands on him, I’ll show the world the difference in skillset between me and him. Because I say before every fight when I got respect for the guy and the skillset they bring, ‘this is a guy I’m going to embarrass them from start to finish,’ and I say that with all the conviction in the world.
“I just told him ‘Man you’ve been talking a lot of sh*t, saying this and that. I’m going to straight-up say it to your face.’…he goes ‘what’s that?’
“I go ‘I’m going to f*ck you up, I’m just letting you know I’m going to embarrass you from start to finish so you’re not going to hear it he-said she-said. I’m letting you know right to your face ‘I’m going to f*ck you up’, the same way I’ve let a lot of my opponents know before.
During an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, Kamaru Usman revealed Dana White’s plans for a title bout against the ‘BMF’ champion.
Whilst no fists were thrown during their media day run-in, Jorge Masvidal says he wouldn’t mind fighting Usman any day of the week.
“No, he’s not stupid man,” Masvidal said. “He plays tough guy on TV but he’s not stupid. What’s that guy gonna do in a scenario like that? Hug my legs? C’mon man. You know he can’t punch through a f*cking wet paper bag so what’s he gonna do in a scenario like that? Nothing but look down and take a seat. He’s a punk.”
Jorge Masvidal believes Kamaru Usman overreacted because he is scared of the truth and made the incident bigger than what it is. ‘Gamebred’ also reacted to the verbal fight in an interview with ESPN. Watch the full clip below and stay tuned on BJPenn.com for all fight news you need to know.
This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 1/30/2020.