The Menu
On April 24th in Jacksonville Florida, UFC:261 will serve a full meal to hungry fans, featuring 3 title fights. The first title fight of the night will see Rose Namajunas attempt to reclaim the strawweight belt from Zhang Weili, who is coming off the greatest fight of all time in women’s mma. This bout has all the tinder and fuel for another barn burner. Both combatants are brimming with technical skill, heart, and determination.
The penultimate fight will feature one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time, Valentina Schevshenko. She will look to defend her flyweight title against the newest addition to the weight class - former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade. Andrade is coming off a brutal body shot knockout of Katlyn Chookagian, and will look to exploit a slight vulnerability Valentina showed on the ground during her title defense against Jennifer Maia.
The main event that will bring UFC: 261 to a close will feature two of the most exciting names in the entire sport of mixed martial arts. Every type of fight fan from the “casuals” to the “hardcores” will be looking forward to Jorge Masvidal vs. Kamaru Usman 2. Usman - the seemingly unknown champion in the eyes of the mainstream, will yet again make the walk toward the octagon to continue his dominant run. Masvidal - one of the sport’s biggest global superstars - will be waiting to welcome him.
You know what to do. Grab your croquetas, pour the Recuerdo, and give everyone who stands in front of the TV a three-piece and a soda. April 24th on Saturday night, tune in to UFC 261. Will it be redemption or ascension for Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal?
The Resurrection
Masvidal had his first professional fight on May 24, 2003. He has been in the MMA game for nearly 2 decades, fighting through several generations of some of the best fighters the world has had to offer. Before 2019, The man had already recorded victories over some of the most respected and recognized names in the history of the sport. His pre-2019 resume includes wins over Joe Lauzon, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, KJ Noons, Michael Chiesa, Tim Means, and Yves Edwards. Edwards was considered the uncrowned king of the lightweights during a time when the UFC did not have a lightweight belt up for grabs. Although Jorge had been knocking on the door of the top of the sport for a long time, an untimely loss here and there kept him from walking through it. That was until 2019.
Calling the series of wins that led Masvidal to becoming the 2019 Forbes UFC Fighter of The Year a comeback would be erroneous, and quite frankly as Stephen A. Smith would put it, so disrespectful. But there is absolutely no doubt that the resurgence of Jorge Masvidal that catapulted him to the top of the sport during 2019 was a delight for mixed martial arts fans worldwide. It served as confirmation to those who never got off the Gamebred train that Jorge Masvidal was always destined to be at the top of the mixed martial arts world. This time though, Gamebred did not bother knocking on the door at the summit, he blasted it off its hinges with a well timed soaring knee.
A night in London
The first stop of the resurgent’s journey took place in London in the sold out O2 arena. In London Jorge Masvidal showcased the new mentality he had adopted in a reality television show for the Spanish Language Telemundo Network. The show was called Exatlon, and it consisted of being on an island and competing in multiple athletic events while isolated from the rest of the world. During this time Masvidal’s only company was his fellow competitors and his own thoughts.
On the island Jorge did not have access to a phone or a laptop. Being near the beach, as he put it, he could have a type of peace that he couldn't find on TV, on the phone, or even in people. Having a lot of free time in his hands and no internet or television to retreat to, Jorge privately reflected on the worldwide journey he had been on as a mixed martial artist. A career spanning multiple decades and multiple organizations competing at the top of the sport, in multiple weight classes. He reflected on the way he had approached his career up until that point.
The Split Decision Loss King is a moniker many associated with Jorge, and one that continued to be at the forefront of his thoughts, the split decision losses replaying again and again. It was during this time, during his reflection in isolation, that he decided to go at the game in a different way, to leave no room for ambiguity in his fights, to end his opponents inside the distance, to completely remove the judges from the outcome of the fight, to leave no doubt.
However, even with all the self-reflection, and with Jorge’s new mentality toward the MMA game, Darren Till still presented a monumental challenge inside the UFC octagon. A big, strong, athletic striking specialist who had massive hype placed on him due to his spectacular displays of precision and timing inside the octagon. Till beat Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson and knocked him down while fighting at home in front of his fans in Liverpool. This is the same Wonderboy who is often lauded as one of the best strikers to ever grace the octagon. This time, Darren would again be in front of a home crowd.
But there is something in the water Miami boys drink. Equal parts determination, perseverance, resilience and grit, Jorge was born and raised drinking that water. Floored by a piston of a left hand by Till, Masvidal stayed composed and saw the round through. He came out swinging the next round, catching Till with multiple punches before landing the beautiful combination that rendered Till unconscious for the next few minutes. It was a sensational finish to an incredible fight. All of this while Jorge was on foreign soil, and after Till had told him to his face he would knock him out during an interview days before.
The first leg of his resurgence journey was completed, and like he had made up his mind to do while in isolation on that caribbean island, he had left no doubt. Victory was as clear as those caribbean waters, and whatever the judges thought, or would have thought, was irrelevant. As if his performance against Darren Till minutes before wasn’t good enough, shortly after his hand was raised inside the octagon, he was involved in a little altercation with an individual that will remain anonymous. It was after this scuffle that Jorge dropped the now world wide famous line “Three-Piece and a Soda.” So after winning two fights in a night, he “glided” out of England and on to the next leg of the journey.
Taking Flight
The fight against Ben Askren presented Jorge with an opponent who was undefeated in his MMA career. Not only was Ben Askren undefeated in 19 professional fights, he had a history of simply grabbing a hold of his opponents and dominating them throughout the whole fight. The man had been a champion of Bellator and One Fighting Championships. Ben Askren was looking to secure a title shot with a win over Gamebred. Initially though, Ben Askren had flown to London to see the Till vs. Masvidal Fight as he was eyeing a potential number one contender match up against Darrent Till that would catapult him into a title fight. Ben probably thought the Till v. Masvidal fight would be a routine, matter of fact, business like win for Darrent Till.
But the events of that night are well recorded. After Masvidal notched the win against Till, Ben Askren went around telling anyone who would listen what he thought of Jorge, and how he would handle him without much issue. Ben has been known to talk a bit of smack about his opponents and with Jorge it was no different. Ben used every opportunity in front of the camera to take shots at Jorge, a move that would return to haunt him. The frame showing the ring girl holding up the first round sign was probably longer than the whole fight. Jorge lulled Ben into a false sense of security by resting against the cage with his hands behind his back, skipped a bit to the left, and then nearly broke the sound barrier with a short sprint before sailing through the air as he blasted through the door to global sports superstardom with a well timed flying knee.
East vs. West
To close out the fighter of the year argument, Jorge’s star continued to soar right into another massive fight, unexpected by Jorge or his team. This challenge would come directly from the horse's mouth.
After he had defeated Anthony Pettis, during the post fight interview, Nate Diaz decided to call out Jorge because he felt that he and Jorge were the last two true gangsters of the sport. And in a surprising turn of events, the fight would be for an actual belt. Not a world title, but not a Mickey Mouse Belt either. The Baddest M****r F****r Belt would be part of the stakes. The fight sold itself really. Two of the most exciting fighters in the sport would square up to find out who the real BMF in the UFC is.
Nate had nothing for Jorge on that night. It was a one sided hammering and Jorge wielded the hammer. The fight was stopped due to the heavy lacerations around Nate’s eye. Nate didn’t give up for one second. He is a true gangster of the sport. A legend and a beast, but on that night, Jorge was crowned the BMF.
First Crack
Now, what would come next? Well, at the top with the belt, Kamaru Usman waited. Negotiations for a big fight can be nebulous at best to the outside world. We will never know what truly went down, but somehow, Usman was scheduled to fight Gilbert Burns. The storyline for that fight is one we’ve seen plenty of times; the former teammates stepping in to fight each other. And in a very 2020 way, the fight fell through as Burns unfortunately contracted the Coronavirus. This was very close to the fight with Usman. Whoever the UFC was going to replace Gilbert with would only have six days notice to step in there.
On six days notice, only a bad a** Mother effer would raise his hand to volunteer to step into the octagon against the reigning world champion.
Well, the UFC knew just who to call. Six days notice. Not even half an antibiotic cycle. But Jorge is no stranger to difficult positions. Jorge is one of the very few to have survived having Demian Maia on his back, without referee interference that is, and finish the round raining down biblical punishment on his opponent until the fortunate bell rang bringing the round to a close. When they called he answered.
Kamaru Usman is one of the best welterweight champions in UFC history. And Jorge did not hesitate to fly across the world, cut 20 pounds, and step in there with Usman on six days notice. Usman wanted nothing to do with Jorge when it came to the stand up. And a champion who had finished his 2 other title defenses, on the feet, could not get rid of six days notice Jorge. After the festivities were over, Jorge sat on the cage and told Dana White, “give me six weeks, I can beat that dude.”
So what will it be?
We saw in 2019, that Jorge began the resurrection. On April 24th, Jorge will have a chance at redemption, a chance to get that loss back. A chance, to show the world that he is the best welterweight on the planet. And If Jorge was ever going to prove he is the best welterweight in the world, Kamaru Usman would be the perfect opponent to show it.
Rightly so, Usman is already being lauded as one of the greatest welterweights of all time. The man that has defended the belt 3 times with two finishes will also have a chance to achieve something great on Saturday night; ascension . The question is, can Usman ascend to the pinnacle of mixed martial arts lore and legend as one of the greatest fighters, regardless of weight, to ever compete inside the eight sided cage? Can he be mentioned without hesitation in the same breath as Jones, St. Pierre, Silva, Miocic, Johnson, and the rest of the UFC Pantheon of greats? Well, tune the hell in on April 24th, to see if the Miami kid can win the belt, or if Usman can take his rightful place amongst one of the finest fighters the world has ever known. Enjoy UFC:261, take in the energy of a full house, and witness some of the greatest fighters on earth putting on a show.
