Jorge Masvidal: Kamaru Usman is ‘not going to hold me down’

Jorge Masvidal didn’t need to show off his impeccable defensive grappling in his UFC 239 fight with Olympic wrestler Ben Askren — you know, because he knocked him out in five seconds.

That being said, Masvidal will likely have to exercise his defensive wrestling if he finds himself in the cage with reigning UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Usman, like Askren, is a tremendous takedown artist, and will probably look to punish Masvidal on the canvas.

While Jorge Masvidal recognizes that he will likely find himself on his back in a prospective title fight with Kamaru Usman, he assures that the champion will not be able to keep him there.

“He’s not going to hold me down,” Masvidal said confidently on the latest episode of BJPenn.com Radio. 

“I know for a fact that only one guy’s held me down in my whole career and his name is Demian Maia, and hopefully one day we’re going to have to rematch man,” Masvidal continued, recounting his spit decision loss to Maia. “But Kamaru’s not going to hold me down. It’s not happening. I’ve been training too hard on my wrestling, and if Ben could’ve made it to the second level, third level of ‘Gamebred,’ then you guys would’ve seen that the wrestling was going to be on point. Kamaru’s a good match for me, I would say, stylistically. I put a lot of money on it, on myself.”

Of course, it’s not yet confirmed that Jorge Masvidal is next in line for a shot at Kamaru Usman. But he’s hoping his ever growing fanbase can make some noise and help make his title dreams a reality.

“It’s kind of like a presidential election, where it’s not really who’s the best fighter,” he said of UFC title shots. “It’s who’s generating that f**ing buzz. So I need all my fans out there, especially because you mother f**kers know I’m not that savvy with the technology, help your boy out. Give me those Retweets.

“Just hook me up. Just f**ing spread the word, tell them who you want to see fighting for that title because believe it or not, them things help man. It f**king helps create what they judge as the market, so f**king fans out there to make some noise online. That’s what the f**k I need man. All my fans go out and make some f**king noise man.”

Do you think Jorge Masvidal will swipe the title from Kamaru Usman?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/9/2019.