At the peak of his fame Jorge Masvidal was a finishing machine on the feet, defeating the likes of Darren Till, Ben Askren and Nate Diaz inside the distance along the way, but since then he’s found the going tougher after coming up against elite wrestlers like divisional champion Kamaru Usman and No.1 contender Colby Covington.
“The same thing with him that’s the Colby problem: wrestling,” Masvidal acknowledged on the IMPAULSIVE show. “First fight, just put me up against the fence and I wasn’t able to f*ckin’ let go. The second fight, I’m thinking it’s a takedown after takedown after takedown. I was doing well stuffing the takedowns, and then boom, switched it up on me.”
Masvidal admits to becoming frustrated with his inability to overcome their wrestling prowess, but rather than just accept that he wasn’t good enough, ‘Gamebred’ has now vowed to dedicate his training to wrestling in the coming years in an attempt to be the best he can be.
“Get right back to work, in a different way,” Masvidal said of his plans for the future. “I’ve been doing this sport for quite a while … so I do have a lot of data that I can use to go back on and start to dissect that and see what works and what doesn’t going forward, to solve these riddles. I’ve had a problem with wrestlers. It’s a couple times that I’ve had the problems. Not just a guy who was decent, [but] the more standout wrestlers, I’ve had a problem.
“With wrestlers, when they take me out of my element, and they’re able to keep pressing that hugging game, even when I do bring it to a neutral, I’m like, ‘F***, I spent a lot of extra power doing that.’ So knowing these things, I have a slight different plan and formula going forward to address these problems that I’ve had most of my career with the f****** wrestlers.
“The best program in the country currently, for the last 10 years, is Penn State,” Masvidal continued. “I’ve got some good friends over there, so I’m gonna go spend some time in Pennsylvania, wrestle in the morning, wrestle at night, wrestle in the morning, wrestle at night, and stay doing that, because I don’t feel like I have to work on my boxing — not to be cocky — or my kicking. It’s there any time. I’ve just got to sharpen it up before fights. So one of my main plans right now is go wrestle day and night and see what comes out of it.
“Then come back to the sport of MMA and see where I’m at. I don’t know how long that journey’s gonna take me. I don’t know if I’m gonna go there six months or six weeks until I get that breakthrough, but I know it will come from just being in there.”
With that goal in mind, Masvidal is remaining focused on training and improving rather than spending time considering who might be his next opponent.
“I’m not even thinking that far yet,” Masvidal said. “I’m just gonna go sharpen these tools. Just wrestle, wrestle and f****** see what comes out of it. And once I feel I’ve improved, I’ve leveled up, I’ve f****** hit a Super Saiyan on everybody, we’ll find out who I’m gonna f****** murder.”
