Jorge Masvidal is looking to take on Nate Diaz in the hostile territory of California.
Fan-favorite Diaz returned from three years off to beat former lightweight Anthony Pettis (highlights) at last weekend’s UFC 241 from Anaheim. After the huge return, Diaz called out Masvidal for a huge match-up:
“The reason I was off is cause everybody sucked. There was nobody to fight. But with this belt I wanna defend it against, Jorge Masvidal had a good last fight. All respect to the man, but there ain’t no gangstas in this game anymore. There ain’t nobody who done it right but me and him. So I know my man’s a gangsta, but he ain’t no West Coast gangsta.”
Diaz later revealed why he called out Masvidal at the UFC 241 post-fight press conference:
“You’ve got to recognize who is the best and who the best in the game is…and it’s not who they’re saying it is…it’s who I’m saying it is. It’s the guys that have been in here forever and who are still on top of the game.”
Masvidal’s Team Responds
Masvidal previously stated he would readily accept a huge fight with Diaz. And according to his manager, Abe Kawa, he’s ready to throw down on the West Coast. Kawa appeared on today’s episode of ‘Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show’ after Masvidal felt sick today and couldn’t appear. Kawa said it was a good fight that was huge for all his fans:
“I believe so. I believe that’s a good fight, I think both of these guys will go on, put on a show for everybody and I think that’s what we all want. If you’re a fight fan, this is like Christmas for everybody. Everybody.”
The prominent manager claimed he had spoken with the UFC and will meet with them soon to begin talks:
“Right after the fight, I had a brief conversation with the higher-ups and it looks like they like the fight. That being said, we should be getting together sometime this week to see how that goes.”
Looking For Cali – Or Close To It
Kawa said that Masvidal is looking to fight Diaz in his home state of California. A secondary location of Las Vegas would also be fine for ‘Gamebred’:
“I think December in Vegas is probably where he would prefer it. Actually, he wants to go to Cali where Nate’s from. I don’t want to give too much, I’d rather it come from Jorge than me, so I’ll try to keep it as simple as possible. But he looks at this fight more like the Till; he’s gonna go into someone else’s backyard and he prefers that over anything else. So if Vegas is the closest thing he could get to Cali, then, you know, Vegas.”
Then, Kawa responded to Diaz’ claim that the Florida-based Masvidal was no ‘West Coast gangsta.’ He compared it to an infamous rap battle of old via ESPN’s Greg Rosenstein:
“The East Coast swag is different than the West Coast swag. We had Biggie and Tupac, and now we have Nate and Jorge.”
Those are big shoes to fill. Something tells me Diaz vs. Masvidal would have no trouble living up to them, however. The response Diaz got at UFC 241 made it clear he was the true star of the show. The veteran Masvidal’s stock has never been higher.
Book the fight.
