Jorge Masvidal believes Leon Edwards lacks the meanness to be a true fighter.
At UFC 263, Edwards went one-on-one with Nate Diaz inside the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. Edwards had a mostly one-sided showing but Diaz rocked him in the final moments of the fight. “Rocky” was able to survive until the final horn and won the bout via unanimous decision.
Masvidal has a storied history with both Edwards and Diaz. Back in March 2019, Masvidal punched Edwards backstage following a UFC London event due to an argument. As far as the Diaz history goes, “Gamebred” defeated the Stockton native via third-round TKO to become the one-time-only BMF Champion back in November 2019.
Speaking to media members to promote the debut of his Gamebred Fighting Championship promotion, Masvidal said he’s willing to fight Nate Diaz in a rematch, Nick Diaz, Edwards, or anyone in the top five welterweight rankings this fall.
“It doesn’t matter. Whoever’s in the top five available in November, October, that’s who’s head I’m coming after.”
Masvidal was then asked for his assessment of Edwards’s performance against Diaz. “Gamebred” admitted that Edwards did what he had to do, but it isn’t enough to get big paydays.
“It was a good fight, good performance. Leon does what he does, he keeps asking for more money, more things but he’s not a finisher, he’s not a fighter. He was winning happily and he wasn’t winning to put himself in the risk to go out there and get those finishes. That’s why I don’t think he’s in the position that he wants to be. He’s not going out there and fighting every second of every minute. He’s a very skilled guy but he just doesn’t have that grit in him, that meanness in him to go out there and beat up a top contender the way he should.”
