UFC 251: Jorge Masvidal thinks Kamaru Usman mentally weak, ‘nowhere near as good as advertised’
- ‘He has 17 different personalities and I don’t know which one is going to turn up to fight,’ jokes Masvidal
- ‘There are other guys I would have said I don’t want to take it on six days. He’s the perfect guy’
Jorge Masvidal was eating barbecue at a friend’s Fourth of July party when he got the call to negotiate a new deal to save the UFC 251 main event.
He may have taken the fight on just six days’ notice, but don’t be fooled. As his American Top Team Teammate Dustin Poirier said, Masvidal “isn’t coming off the couch” to Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.
“At the end of the day it’s a fight, it’s not a math test, it’s not an SAT test, that I’m not maybe the best at,” Masvidal told the UFC’s virtual media day. “It’s what I’ve done since a child, my fascination since youth. So I just gotta go out and believe in myself and give it everything I got.
“There are other guys I would have said I don’t want to take it on six days. He’s the perfect guy to take it on six days. Weak minded. He has 17 different personalities and I don’t know which one is going to turn up to fight.”
Masvidal (35-13) had been set to fight UFC welterweight champion Usman (16-1) all year, but negotiations over pay broke down last month and new No 1-contender Gilbert Burns slid in to face his Sanford MMA teammate.
That went out of the window when Burns tested positive for coronavirus last weekend, and Masvidal suddenly had all the leverage he needed to get his shot at capping off a fairy tale run to the title following a stunning 2019 that saw him finish Darren Till, Ben Askren and Nate Diaz in some style.
UFC: Masvidal promises ‘super necessary’ punishment for Usman
“They say that this guy is the best in the world, that he has the worst style possible for me from the top 10 guys,” Masvidal said.
“I have all these things going against me before I even get in the cage. So, leaving with that belt, it’s going to be pretty cool.
“He’s nowhere near as good as advertised,” added the 35-year-old of Usman, who is on an 11-fight win streak and has not lost since 2013. “That’s why I’m here, I’m going to prove that. I think he’s mentally weak.”
Both fighters train in Florida but Masvidal said “the only connection is my knee to his jaw bone”. He insisted he is “in pretty damn good shape” all things considering, though admitted his weight is not 100 per cent yet.
“My mind is ready my heart is ready my skills set is better than him any day of the week. I just gotta go out and prove it,” he said.
