Jorge Masvidal and Neil Magny get heated over potential short-notice bout

When Gunnar Nelson was forced out of his UFC Liverpool co-main event showdown with Neil Magny, sixth-ranked UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal offered to step in and replace him. He only asked that this short-notice bout with Magny be contested at a 180-pound catchweight, as he wouldn’t be able to make the welterweight division’s 170-pound limit in time for the card.

“My manager told me about [Nelson’s withdrawal,] and he was like ‘hey man, here’s your chance to smash Magny,’ cause he knows I don’t like Magny one bit,” Masvidal told BJPenn.com’s Jason Kindschy on Tuesday. “So he offered it to me, and he was like ‘what do you think?’ We’ll make it at a catchweight, cause I’m a little heavier right now.”

“We offered it to the UFC at 180 [pounds] and they loved it,” Masvidal continued. “They thought we’d make a great addition to the card, so now they just have to run it by Magny.”

Despite the UFC’s purported interested in this 180-pound catchweight, Masvidal later divulged that Magny and his team had turned down the fight.

“They just said no,” Masvidal said in a Tuesday evening text message.

Following a BJPenn.com report that the fight wouldn’t be happening, Magny joined the conversation on Twitter, reminding Masvidal that “running your mouth on Twitter doesn’t constitute an official fight offer!”

In today's fake news….running your mouth on Twitter doesn't constitute an official fight offer! https://t.co/ZKQZapI18e

— Neil Magny (@NeilMagny) May 2, 2018

This then prompted a response from Masvidal, who shared a screen-capture of Magny’s latest Instagram post, which seems to imply that he turned down the catchweight bout.

It's not #fakenews when you are exposed for the ho that you are. If it's fake news then accept the fight sissy you are #easymoney even with no camp pic.twitter.com/dgZliIQA82

— Jorge Masvidal (@GamebredFighter) May 2, 2018

What followed was a heated back-and-forth between the two dangerous welterweights, as Magny assured he was willing to fight Masvidal, and Masvidal continued to claim Magny had turned the bout down.

https://twitter.com/NeilMagny/status/991741589818142720

Street rules? Got it. #disgracetoWakanda

— Jorge Masvidal (@GamebredFighter) May 2, 2018

https://twitter.com/NeilMagny/status/991750375911886850

When the fans began to join the conversation, things got even more tense.

https://twitter.com/SincereFire/status/991747988300156928

I'll slap him at any weight class, date or location in a sanctioned bout!

— Neil Magny (@NeilMagny) May 2, 2018

180 May 27th Liverpool? nvm. You already said no

— Jorge Masvidal (@GamebredFighter) May 2, 2018

https://twitter.com/jtx186davis/status/991747754551586816

That's not up to me. I don't care if he weighed 200lbs I'd still slap him

— Neil Magny (@NeilMagny) May 2, 2018

Needless to say, Jorge Masvidal and Neil Magny don’t particularly like each other. The good news is that they both seem down to fight, whether it’s this May in Liverpool, or in another setting down the road.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/2/2018.