Recently retired UFC fighter Jorge Masvidal has expressed interest in regaining his ‘BMF’ champion title and said that he could never rule out returning to the sport, despite currently focusing on promoting his upcoming Gamebred Bareknuckle event.
Jorge Masvidal, the UFC’s inaugural ‘BMF’ champion, mentioned in an interview that he would not mind having a shot at reclaiming his title in the future. Masvidal recently retired but he is staying active in the MMA world, with plans to promote the Gamebred Bareknuckle event scheduled for September 8. This event is set to feature a bare-knuckle MMA rematch between former UFC heavyweight champions Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum.
When queried about his perspective on Justin Gaethje, the current BMF champion, Masvidal suggested that Gaethje should fight him if he intends to defend the title. He commented, “I think he should defend it against me, if you ask me. That’s what should happen if I was to come back to the sport. That’s a big if, but I never knock off coming back to fighting because I love fighting. It’s my favorite pastime, it’s my favorite sport, it’s my way of life. So, I can never say I’m not going to fight.”
However, Masvidal emphasized that Gaethje should continue to stay competitive, take on the world’s best, similar to how he has never declined a fight due to an opponent’s particular fighting style. He mentioned, “But I think Gaethje should just stay active really. Fight. Keep fighting. Stay competing, stay fighting the world’s best, because that’s what a bad motherf***** is supposed to do, take them all on.” Currently, at 38 and no longer in the USADA testing pool, Masvidal would require a mandatory six months of testing before he can compete again, although he isn’t ruling out the return possibility.
Masvidal is also focused on strengthening his promotional activities and hinted at a big, unannounced news. Gaethje secured his BMF championship at UFC 291 with a striking second-round head-kick knockout of Dustin Poirier, a training partner of Masvidal’s. Describing the fight, Masvidal said, “Never, no diss or nothing to the homie,” Gaethje said. “He did his thing. I thought he extra did his thing because in the first round he got his ass whooped, he got rocked twice; right at the end of it Dustin caught him clean by the fence and then Dustin didn’t jump on him because… and in that one minute Gaethje adjusted and pulled it out. Pulled the head kick out from out of nowhere.” He extends his admiration and respect to Gaethje but believes that if Poirier had another chance, the results might come out very differently.