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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Jorge Masvidal is looking to get into the ring to settle some beef.

Last year, Masvidal retired from combat sports following his loss to Gilbert Burns at UFC 287. However, “Gamebred” kicked off 2024 by announcing he was coming out of retirement and was looking to compete in either boxing or MMA later this year. A number of names have been floated as possible opponents, but former rival Nate Diaz appears to be the most likely, with Masvidal recently posting a picture in Diaz’s hometown of Stockton, Calif.

Speaking on Wednesday’s episode of The MMA Hour, Masvidal explained what that photo was about, and where things stand with Diaz.

“I was out in Cali for a couple days and I was like, you know what, let me stop by Stockton,” Masvidal said. “I’ve never been there, I heard the tacos are good there, maybe I’ll run into Nate and we can make this fight happen. So I was like yeah, let’s go over there. Took the squad over there, wrote down my number on a piece of paper, started handing it out to people who looked like they might know Nate Diaz. I’m at the butcher shop and he was like, ‘I know Nate well!’ I was like, that’s funny because he’s vegan. But whatever, I’m looking for beef, so you just let me know how to find this motherf******.

“I heard Nate’s not that good with the technology. Neither am I, so f*** it, maybe we’ll just do this old-school style. Just meet up on the face to face and make this s*** happen.”

Masvidal and Diaz has a memorable fight at UFC 244, where Masvidal won the inaugural ‘BMF’ belt, a title created by Diaz during a post-fight speech, with a third-round TKO. Afterwards, Diaz fought twice more in the UFC before leaving the promotion in 2022 to pursue other interests, including a boxing match against Jake Paul last year. Diaz lost that by unanimous decision, but Masvidal believes that was mostly due to underestimating Paul.

“I just didn’t think for that fight that he was prepared,” Masvidal said. “I think he just f****** said, ‘I’m fighting this Disney kid,’ and he came up off the couch and maybe two-three weeks he trained to get ready for Jake and he didn’t give it the type of shape that he should have been in. I know for a fact he won’t make that mistake with me because he’s knows I’m trying to put him out, and if he’s not in shape I’m going to 100 percent put him out quicker. One thing I can say about that fight is I don’t think he respected him as much as he should have.”

Of course, whether or not a fight will happen is still up in the air. Diaz has not competed since the Paul boxing match, though he’s kept his name in the headlines with a possible MMA fight against Paul and teasing a return to the UFC. But Masvidal hopes they can get something to work before then, as he has been given the greenlight by the UFC to pursue his interests in boxing.

“There’s no deal in place but I would love to fight this motherf***** in a boxing match,” Masvidal said. “Obviously I would have loved to have done it in MMA when he was free and I was free. It just wasn’t working out. I was competing against Usman for the title during that time he was with the UFC, and then shortly after that he … finished out his contract, so we didn’t get to make that happen. Now the UFC is so gracious and we struck a great deal. They’re going to let me box for a couple matches. Nate could be one of them, hopefully.

“I would love to do it. We’ve got unfinished business. We’re both guys who get after it and we’re trying to hurt the opponent. I think in boxing he gets a lot of credit because he’s always worked with a lot of great boxers and his standout thing is jiu-jitsu and boxing, so why not do straight boxing? Because obviously the kicks f***** him up in MMA. Cut up his face, dropped him to the body, dropped him to the head. Two times out of the three that I dropped him were due to kicks. So it’s like the Ben Askren thing. If we’re going to boxing, you don’t have to worry about the knee, c***sucker.”

And if not Diaz, there are no shortage of possible opponents for Masvidal, one of the most popular fighters in MMA. But “Gamebred” has one name in mind, if Diaz won’t step up.

“I can’t stand that lesbian-looking transitional b**** Chael Sonnen,” Masvidal said. “And no offense to lesbians because there are some hot, cool-ass lesbians out there. It’s just him with those glasses and that haircut, he looks like he’s in transition. I would love to bust up Chael but he would never get into the boxing ring with me. They’ve offered him all types of crazy money and all he can do are video rants on his cheesy channels.

“But Chael would be one guy I would love to break his eye orbital. Just because he’s such a cheating f***. He’s gotten caught with more substances in his body than any other competitor in history. At one time he had six or seven difference substances in his body for one of his title fights. You’re a f****** piece of s*** human being. You could go out there and hurt somebody just so you can f****** make a paycheck? Because when you’re on steroids, as everybody knows you become a super soldier. So Chael would be somebody I would love to f*** up. And I would just tell him do all the steroids you want, it doesn’t matter. I’m still going to break your eye orbital.”

“He’s just a crotch-sniffing b**** at his best,” Masvidal continued. “At his best. Steroids, seven strands of steroids, training camp six months, all he would do is hug the leg and f****** pray for a f****** decision. Not my cup of tea obviously. Plus he’s a fake-ass gangster. This guy’s got f****** fraud real estate charges? He definitely ain’t no f****** gangster. It’s that new-age s***. People say s*** and do s*** and then your little followers believe it. Him and Colby are the same cloth: b******.”

But whoever it ends up being against, Masvidal simply hopes it will be soon. Having resolved his legal case with Colby Covington back in November, Masvidal now has nothing hanging over his head except Father Time, and he’s hopeful to get back to punching people in the near future.

“I got no idea,” Masvidal said. “I ain’t got no charges, no cases on me, no probation, so we can make this s*** happen sooner than later. I know it’s going to happen this year I just don’t know [when]. There’s a lot of paperwork and all that bulls*** politics, but I’m ready to throw down.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou is causing its promoters to pull out all the stops.

On March 8, Joshua and Ngannou face off in a 10-round boxing match in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia in a bout being billed as “Knockout Chaos.” Promotion for the superfight has ramped up in recent weeks, and on Tuesday the latest trailer dropped, showing Joshua and Ngannou transforming into video game characters and punching each other a la Street Fighter. But now the powers that be have taken the next step: Releasing a video game for the impending fight.

On Wednesday, “Knockout Chaos” got its own website where fans can play a simple boxing game, choosing between Joshua or Ngannou, and then attempt to knock out their opponent. While the game is not even as advanced as Mike Tyson’s Punchout, it still shows a level of promotional investment rarely seen in the combat sport space these days.

Joshua is a the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in boxing and former unified heavyweight champion. He lost his titles to Oleksandr Usyk in a pair of fights in 2021 and 2022, but has since strung together three straight victories.

Ngannou is the former UFC heavyweight champion who left the promotion in 2023 to pursue other interests, namely boxing. He nearly shocked the world in his boxing debut, losing a contentious split decision to WBC champion Tyson Fury. Despite the loss, Ngannou still earned a top-10 ranking from the WBC.

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Three weeks before Brian Ortega fought Yair Rodriguez in the UFC Mexico main event last Saturday, he suffered a nasty cut in training.  A clash of heads nearly prevented the fight from taking place.  

Ortega picked up a submission win over “El Pantera” after 17 months on the sidelines due to injury.  On Wednesday, Rener Gracie revealed that Ortega had suffered a cut in training and posted a video of the laceration happening with photos to social media.  It was a significant cut.    

“Three weeks before the fight, Brian caught a nasty head butt while training,” Gracie wrote. “It was so deep that he had to get four stitches on the inside and 10 on the surface.

“Being so close to the fight we knew that one light punch in that region would have busted it right open. It was our biggest concern (until he rolled his ankle during Round 0).” 

View the original article to see embedded media.

After Ortega was stitched up, Gracie asked “T-City” if he still wanted to fight Rodriguez.  Ortega responded via video.  Gracie posted it as well.  

“The show continues, homie.  We don’t even care,” Ortega said.  “We’re sweating.  The show continues.”

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UFC

Jorge Masvidal has names in mind to welcome him back from his combat sports retirement.

The man known as “Gamebred” recently clarified that he is indeed ending his short-lived retirement. With his focus primarily on his Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA promotion since UFC 287 in April 2023, Masvidal admitted to being unable to go out on a loss after four straight.

Before stating he’ll fight again, Masvidal teased interest in a boxing rematch with the last man he defeated, Nate Diaz. Masvidal earned a third-round technical knockout victory via doctor’s stoppage to become the inaugural Badddest Motherf—ker (BMF) champion against the Stockton, California native at UFC 244 in November 2019. A recent trip to Diaz’s hometown posted to his social media by Masvidal only fueled any rumors of the rematch. There was an explanation of sorts behind it, but nothing is official yet.

“I was out in ‘Cali’ for a couple days and I was like, you know what, let me stop by Stockton,” Masvidal said on The MMA Hour. “I’ve never been there, I heard the tacos are good there, maybe I’ll run into Nate and we can make this fight happen. So I was like yeah, let’s go over there. Took the squad over there, wrote down my number on a piece of paper, started handing it out to people who looked like they might know Nate Diaz. I’m at the butcher shop and he was like, ‘I know Nate well!’ I was like, that’s funny because he’s vegan. But whatever, I’m looking for beef, so you just let me know how to find this motherf—ker.

“I heard Nate’s not that good with the technology,” he concluded. “Neither am I, so f—k it, maybe we’ll just do this old-school style. Just meet up on the face to face and make this s—t happen.”

Although he’s been inactive for almost one full year, Masvidal was never released by UFC and is still under contract. According to him, however, the promotion has permitted him to box in “a couple of matches” and he’ll take one more UFC fight afterward. At age 39, it will be interesting to see the speed at which “Gamebred” attempts to complete these potential obligations.

As for other opponent options, Masvidal has a somewhat surprising one in mind. Considering the connection he has to Masvidal’s bitter rival, Colby Covington, maybe it’s more understandable than the surface level may suggest.

“I can’t stand that lesbian-looking transitional b—ch Chael Sonnen,” Masvidal said. “And no offense to lesbians because there are some hot, cool-ass lesbians out there. It’s just him with those glasses and that haircut, he looks like he’s in transition. I would love to bust up Chael but he would never get into the boxing ring with me. They’ve offered him all types of crazy money and all he can do are video rants on his cheesy channels.

“But Chael would be one guy I would love to break his eye orbital. Just because he’s such a cheating f—k,” he continued. “He’s gotten caught with more substances in his body than any other competitor in history. At one time he had six or seven different substances in his body for one of his title fights. You’re a f—king piece of s—t human being. You could go out there and hurt somebody just so you can f—king make a paycheck? Because when you’re on steroids, as everybody knows you become a super soldier. So Chael would be somebody I would love to f—k up. And I would just tell him do all the steroids you want, it doesn’t matter. I’m still going to break your eye orbital.

“He’s just a crotch-sniffing b—ch at his best,” Masvidal added. “At his best. Steroids, seven strands of steroids, training camp six months, all he would do is hug the leg and f—king pray for a f—king decision. Not my cup of tea obviously. Plus he’s a fake-ass gangster. This guy’s got f—king fraud real estate charges? He definitely ain’t no f—king gangster. It’s that new-age s—t. People say s—t and do s—t and then your little followers believe it. Him and Colby are the same cloth: b—ch.”

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