Many people are praising Jorge Masvidal for stepping in to save UFC 251’s main event on six days notice against welterweight champ, Kamaru Usman. But Usman isn’t buying that narrative. He argues that he’s the one with more to lose by accepting this fight.
In fact, Usman believes Masvidal has been training for him this entire time, while Usman’s been preparing to fight a completely different fighter in Gilbert Burns, an elite BJJ grappler, for the past two months.
Usman told ESPN’s Brett Okomoto that he’s feeling a little uncomfortable with what the headlines are saying heading into UFC 251.
“There’s already a built in excuse here,” Usman told ESPN. “You start seeing all the headlines and you see all the things everyone’s posting, even ESPN MMA’s posting it like, ‘Jorge Masvidal is stepping in on six days notice, and Masvidal’s doing this,’ and they’re trying to still keep this guy up as if he has one guy that he’s been training for the entire time which is me. I just did a full training camp for another guy, and I’m the one risking everything. This is a win win for him. I’m risking everything, and the storyline right now is, ‘oh Masvidal is stepping in on six days notice to take on the champ,’ and I’m the one risking everything here. I had to say yes as well, but no it’s, ‘Masvidal’s stepping in and doing all this.’ So if he goes out and after he gets beat up, then it’s a built in excuse, ‘oh well he took the fight on seven days notice anyways,’ and so yeah that makes me a little uncomfortable, but at the end of the day it’s the story of my career. I have to go out there and do my job. As my friend says, at the end of the day, people are gonna remember who won and who lost.”
After Usman heard Masvidal’s claims that he intends baptize him and leave him unconscious for the world to see, Usman responded by saying that he intends to bless him with his hands while they’re on the feet or on the ground, for as long as he can take it.
The two fighters look to settle their differences in the main event this weekend, Sat., July 11 at UFC 251 in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
