Jorge Masvidal would be more than willing to fight Khamzat Chimaev if the undefeated rising star can prove his worth.
Chimaev will face Nate Diaz in the UFC 279 main event on September 10 in Las Vegas. It will be Chimaev’s second appearance of 2022 after a decision win over Gilbert Burns at UFC 273 in April.
Masvidal met with MMA Fighting in Savannah, Ga. ahead of his promotion’s iKON FC 4 event on Friday, which will be held at the Savannah Convention Center and streamed on UFC Fight Pass. When asked if he was impressed by Chimaev after beating Burns, Gamebred feels the 28-year-old still has work to do.
“This was supposed to be his coming out party and it didn’t go to plan,” Masvidal told MMA Fighting. “A lot of people felt like Gilbert won that fight – a lot of people still think Gilbert won that fight.
“I don’t really think khamzat is as good as people say it is. I am more of a seer than a believer [guy] and I haven’t seen anything that makes me believe in this guy. I personally would like to break his face. Once he starts selling pay-per-views and such, I wouldn’t mind breaking his damn face.
As expected, Chimaev is a huge favorite over Diaz heading to UFC 279. While most rule out the Stockton native, Masvidal – who shared the octagon with Diaz in the first “BMF” title fight at UFC 244 in November 2019 – is not counting his former opponent – especially if things get prolonged.
“They probably wanted to pair Diaz with someone, stylistically that’s not the best when I think about freaking khamzat,” Masvidal told MMA Fighting. “So they gave him a boring ass wrestler who will try to hug his legs and sniff his crotch.
“I think Khamzat will probably win, but I can imagine Nate knocking him out in rounds four or five because Khamzat doesn’t have that gas tank. He doesn’t have that experience, and I think he also gets it the moment he’s wasting energy doing stupid shit. Nate will save all that energy and face him when it counts. I think Khamzat should win, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Nate breaks his ass.”
It seems Chimaev caught wind of these comments when he later tagged Masvidal in a tweet featuring two images of a KO’d Masvidal with the caption “Wake up buddy”.