“Friday Night Is When They Called Me” – Jorge Masvidal Opens up on Why He Accepted the Fight Against Kamaru Usman

UFC welterweight contender Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal revealed how his fight with Kamaru Usman came to fruition. And why he accepted it.

Originally, Masvidal was supposed to fight Usman for the welterweight championship. However, the fight fell apart after “Gamebred” found himself in a contract dispute with the UFC. As a result, the company offered Gilbert Burns the opportunity to fight the “Nigerian Nightmare.”

Surprisingly, Burns tested positive for the Coronavirus. And the UFC called up Masvidal again. In a recent interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Jorge explained the entire situation.

“Friday Night is when they called me. Saturday, the deal was in place. Now I had to — you know, not have Corona. Be able to get to a certain place at a certain time, which is here in Vegas. So I passed all these certain steps. I still got more steps to pass. I still gotta go to Abu Dhabi, everybody has to get retested again, and all this craziness you know?”

Jorge Masvidal is happy with the deal

Jorge revealed that it was the UFC that contacted him, and not the other way round. He believes that he might have upset some people during his most recent negotiation.

“We had to break them down. That’s why some people don’t seem too happy as they were announcing it, you know what I am saying? They don’t wanna talk about it too much. You can see it in their face, a little bit of anger and anguish. But I’m going to do my job always, which is provide for me and my family.”

The BMF title-holder somehow knew that he would receive the opportunity to fight Usman. Although he is happy with the deal, Masvidal admitted that it is not what he had asked for.

“Me and my team know what I deserve, you know? So when we got undercut and low balled, ‘All right cool, no problem. Let’s see what happens.’ I told my manager, I told several people, ‘Guys not gonna like it, they’re (expletive) with me. Watch at the last moment, they’re probably gonna call me back.’ “

“I didn’t get exactly what I wanted, but I got very, very close to it. So I’m taking the fight… I’m happy to break this guy’s face and get paid for it.”

Accepting a late notice fight comes with its risks. Masvidal admitted that he was not training anything specific.

Who do you think will win between Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal?