Kamaru Usman slams 'gimmicky guy' Jorge Masvidal as rivalry intensifies

The UFC welterweight champion Kamaru “The Nigerian Nightmare” Usman has the world at his feet right now. Ever since he defeated his arch rival Colby Covington in an epic Fight of The Year contender battle at UFC 245, Usman has proved his critics wrong. He now has Covington’s former best friend Jorge Masvidal, the BMF champion in his sights.

Masvidal has time and again called out Irish superstar Conor McGregor for a fight and post UFC 246, even McGregor seems interested in a fight with ‘Street Jesus’. However, Usman and Masvidal apparently have plenty of bad blood between them as well which even resulted in a public confrontation recently between the duo.

In a recent interview given to MMA Fighting, Usman verbally slammed Masvidal to be a ‘gimmicky guy’. Here’s what he had to say:

They’re doing everything possible not to fight me. They’re begging for a Conor fight. They’re begging for that fight. I get it. Let’s be honest. My manager said it, too — “if I was his manager, yes, why would I fight you? I’ve got all this hype right now. I would do everything possible not to fight you. Of course I want to fight Conor.” You fight Conor and lose, guess what? I still got the payday. Who cares. A giant payday. Who cares. He fights me, he goes back down to making [$50K] and [$50K] or whatever he was making before. All that hype is done.
I respected Masvidal before, but after years and years of being in the game, you finally start to get a little shine, and this is how you’re going to do it? Now you’re that gimmicky guy? His management team, they’ve done a good job of getting him to this point where he’s got this hype around him now, but that’s what it is. It’s hype.
I’ve heard him go as far as say he’s going to break my face, he’s going to do all this and do that, but then I see you backstage and nothing was said. Nothing. We sat in the same row at Conor’s fight. Same row. Maybe 10 people apart. Nothing was said. I’m that type of guy if I say I’m going to do something to you when I see you, it’s on sight. I don’t talk the sh*t and this and that, but if I feel a certain way about you, when I see you, I’m gonna confront you about it.