Jorge Masvidal suffered the first KO loss of his career in a rematch with Kamaru Usman on Saturday night at UFC 261, but he’s now looking to quickly turn the page by focusing his attention on another potential blockbuster fight against Nick Diaz next.
Masvidal was well aware that Diaz was cageside at this past weekend’s event as he looks to return from a six-year hiatius, and ‘Gamebred’ is well aware that he might be looking to avenge the TKO loss he handed to his brother Nate Diaz last year in their ‘BMF’ title fight.
“Nick is a stud,” Masvidal told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani. “If Nick wants to throw down, we can throw down. Like I said, I’m gonna do it on my time. I’m not gonna take no short notice fights, I don’t care who it is. But if Nick does want to fight towards the end of this year, what could I say man? I’m here. You wanna do right for your brother? Let’s go. I heard in a lot of interviews that he wasn’t too keen on what I did to his little brother.”
“I feel for Nick in that situation. I know what I’d wanna do if somebody did that to my little brother. So let’s go.”
Meanwhile, despite his rivaly with welterweight champion Usman, Masvidal has stayed classy in defeat and has praised his opponent’s handiwork in their rematch.
“He hit the perfect off button, and then followed through right on. I think even before I hit the floor. I wasn’t really good, and good in the sense of like, I was hurt. To the point where my legs just went out, and this has never happened in my whole career.
“It makes me appreciate the knockout. I look at it and I’m like, wow, perfect timing. Misleading as f–k. I thought he was going in for a shot and when I realized it wasn’t a shot, it was too late,” Masvidal said. “I was throwing my check left hook but it was already too late. I read the information wrong. So he sold it to me beautifully and that’s why he got those results and gosh. Of that moment right there? I am a fan, because I love the sport so much. It’s just beautiful technique.”
With that being said, Masvidal is also honest enough to admit that he has a level of anxiety about the loss.
“I’ve been here before when I was younger. When you put so much into something and then you lose, I can deal with memes or like people. Things like that. But what I can’t deal with is the anxiety that it gives me,” Masvidal said. “Like, ‘Damn, I want to do this. I didn’t get to perform’. All this extra energy you get, if you point that in the right direction, it’s good. If you point that in the wrong direction, it’s horrible and bad habits get made from that and I know that. So what I have to do is either train or find something that keeps my mind occupied.”
