Jorge Masvidal has more to give the combat sports world.
When UFC announced its return to Miami for the huge UFC 314 card on April 12, Masvidal felt like a homecoming was a solid possibility to end his short-lived MMA retirement, which began in April 2023 after his Miami headliner at UFC 287. Masvidal, 40, revealed Monday on Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show" that his hope for a UFC 314 return ultimately fell apart, however the inaugural BMF champion still plans to fight in the UFC again — and now has his old rival, Leon Edwards, firmly in his sights.
"I don't have a date in mind," Masvidal said. "I'm just shooting for Leon's ass. Let's go fix this, go f***ing fight. Throw down like men, beat your ass and that's it. I ain't getting any younger."
Masvidal and Edwards' beef infamously began after their respective wins over Darren Till and Gunnar Nelson in the main and co-main event bouts of UFC London in 2019. During a post-fight interview with Laura Sanko backstage, Masvidal was mid-answer when Edwards walked by. The two briefly exchanged words from a distance before Masvidal strolled toward Edwards and hit him with a quick sequence of unexpected punches — or the famous "three piece with the soda" combination, as Masvidal coined it.
Despite plenty of discussions afterward, a matchup between the two welterweight rivals never came to fruition. Masvidal rose to superstardom with his capture of the BMF title followed by two failed title shots against then-champ Kamaru Usman. Edwards eventually earned his own title shot and dethroned Usman years later. Masvidal has kept an eye on the division though, including Edwards, who just fell into his first-ever losing streak after back-to-back setbacks to the now-champion Belal Muhammad and Sean Brady. The latter result came at the most recent UFC London event, with Brady securing a submission finish.
"He surprised a lot of people," Masvidal said of Brady's win. "The guy's tough like a dog on a bone. He gets into tough positions and keeps stepping on the gas. I think Leon felt that pressure and just kind of broke, like, 'Man, I'm in a bad spot here, I need to get out of this without wasting a ton of energy.' It felt like in some of the exchanges he ...
