UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal says that he knows that he made few mistakes during his first fight against Kamaru Usman at UFC 251.
Kamaru Usman is set to rematch Jorge Masvidal in the main event of UFC 261 on April 24 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.
Having already beaten the top-four ranked fighters in his division, a rematch was likely for Usman. Before stopping Gilbert Burns at UFC 258, Usman finished Colby Covington in the fifth round at UFC 245, which was followed by a lopsided unanimous decision to win over Masvidal at UFC 251.
The first fight where Masvidal fought Usman was at UFC 251 in July. He replaced Gilbert Burns on six days’ notice and initially pointed to a lack of a complete training camp for the loss. This, despite the fact he was originally in negotiations to fight Usman at the event before he couldn’t reach terms with the UFC.
Jorge Masvidal says he will get the job done this time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSP0_bklbcY&ab_channel=UFC-UltimateFightingChampionship
Jorge Masvidal is very confident that he will get the job done this time as he has rectified some important mistakes and also joked about the fact that Usman didn’t fight him in the first fight and was just hugging him.
“First time I fought Kamaru, he hugged me as hard as he could like we were at prom and tried to rub his feet with mine which was awkward and weird,” Masvidal said on UFC Countdown. “The fight didn’t go as expected because I didn’t work on my tap dancing enough.”
It’s a funny shot from Masvidal as the foot stomps from Usman were a big part of the first fight. He used the clinch to control Gamebred and then stomp on his feet to slow him down. However, Masvidal appears ready to deal with that this time around and is promising a stoppage win to become the new welterweight champion.
With the sequel rapidly approaching, Jorge said he’ll enter the fight strong. He’s been aware of it for long enough to properly time his weight cut, and after putting his body through agony last time, he anticipates feeling like a different man at UFC 261.
“I’m not going to cut 20 pounds of weight now, mainly of water, in six days,” Masvidal said during an ESPN+ Q&A hosted by Laura Sanko. “As I stand right now I’m eight, nine pounds before I hit the mark of 170. So it’s a different weight cut altogether. That’s going to be the main determining factor I think.”
Jorge kept his planned tactics for Usman close to the vest. He had trouble fending off the clinch work of the champion in a unanimous decision loss at UFC 251 but vows to turn the tables this time and get his hand raised.
That won’t the last of his encounters with Kamaru Usman, though. A trilogy fight is already on his mind because the last thing he wants is for his rival to be able to call things even.
“When I win the rematch, we definitely will go for the trilogy because I will not go down in history 1-1 with this individual,” he said. “It’s just not going to happen.”
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