UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal has revealed what he’d have done against Leon Edwards at UFC 263 if he was Nate Diaz in the fifth round.
Edwards extended his unbeaten UFC run to 10 fights at the June pay-per-view against fan favorite Diaz. “Rocky” outpointed the Stockton native on his way to a largely comfortable unanimous decision victory.
But it was a late burst from Diaz that stole the headlines. With less than 60 seconds left before the pair reached the 25-minute distance, the veteran rocked Edwards with a clean left hand and looked close to completing a miraculous comeback.
But despite displaying exactly why he’s loved by the UFC fanbase, many criticized Diaz for delaying his attack while he had Edwards hurt in the fifth frame. According to Masvidal, his former opponent should have taken a different approach after he stung the Englishman.
During an interview with Jeremy Piven on the How U Livin J Piven podcast, Masvidal emphasized the importance of the first few seconds after stunning an opponent. And while the likes of Joe Rogan have given a different perspective, in Masvidal’s view, Diaz should have gone in for the kill quicker.
“Those milliseconds in that particular incident where Leon was at, that’s like a lifetime, I’m not even exaggerating. Any one more shot might be the end of him for a long time. It’s just that one shot at the right place. Me personally, I would have jumped all over him.”
Having fought Diaz himself, Masvidal believes his performance against the tough 36-year-old compared with Edwards’ should show “Rocky” the different “levels” between the pair. Masvidal even suggested the No.3-ranked welterweight has turned down multiple offers to fight him, that’s despite Edwards claiming the opposite.
“After fighting Nate and seeing how much damage I did to Nate and how easy I did it, he realized there’s several layers between me and you (Edwards). He doesn’t wanna fight…they’ve asked him a couple of times; he’s not mentioning my name right now. And I get it man, he knows…when I get in there (the Octagon), I know to deliver the best experience to the fans and everybody watching. And to further myself from the pack, to separate myself from the pack, I have to be as violent as possible.”
Despite recording a dominant win on the scorecards on June 13, Edwards didn’t impress Dana White enough to secure a title shot over Colby Covington. According to Masvidal, he didn’t commit enough to finding a finish. And while the 29-year-old failed to “hurt” Diaz, in contrast, “Gamebred” says he did an abundance of damage on the way to his 2019 TKO victory over the MMA star.
“I don’t really come to mess around. And Leon was kinda messing around. And so was Nate in there; just pointing at him, this and that. He knows that I’m gonna try and take your head off every second of the fight. My gas tank is better than his. And now he knows it for a fact. I crack, and hard. He never hurt Nate Diaz in that fight. I hurt Nate Diaz left and right. He knows, man, I can crack when I let them (hands) go.”
Jorge Masvidal was last in action at UFC 261 in April. In what was his second consecutive meeting with welterweight king Kamaru Usman in under a year, “Gamebred” fell to back-to-back losses against “The Nigerian Nightmare” after being brutally knocked out in the second round.
The Miami born star recently called out both Gilbert Burns and Edwards as he looks to stake his claim for a third chance to dethrone Usman.
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