Jorge Masvidal took a fight against Kamaru Usman on just six days' notice and was forced to cut 20 pounds in a very short amount of time. Thankfully, Masvidal was able to do such a thing, but by the time he stepped into the Octagon on Saturday for UFC 251, he was hurting pretty badly. During the Welterweight title fight last night, Usman completely dominated Masvidal, although he was never able to get a stoppage. In the end, Usman was able to pick up a convincing unanimous decision.
After the fight, Masvidal was honest about his performance, noting that he didn't feel like he was at his best. With a bit more conditioning and time to prepare, Masvidal firmly believes he could have won.
“I hate coming up short,” Masvidal said per MMA Mania. “I’m not going to make no excuses, he was the better man tonight. There was some areas where I didn’t give him enough credit, and some areas where I felt with a better training camp I could definitely surpass him. I think I showed a lot of my wrestling. On six days notice, that I’m not too easy to take down or hold down on the ground."
Moving forward, Masvidal and Usman hope to potentially run it back, once both fighters are on even ground as far as conditioning. Regardless, you have to give Masvidal his props.
[Via]