Weekly Roundup: Nate Diaz flips the bird, Jorge Masvidal predicts a finish, RDA gets a fight, and more

It’s been another busy week for the sport of mixed martial arts!

Over the last seven days, we’ve witnessed knockouts, submissions, back-and-forth scraps, trash talk, controversy, matchup announcements – all of the things that make our sport so fun to follow.

Without further ado, here’s a quick recap of five of our favorite stories from the past week.

1. Jorge Masvidal on Demian Maia: “I’m Going to Kick his Ass Really Bad”

On Wednesday evening, streaking welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal was a guest on a very entertaining episode of BJ Penn Radio. One of the highlights of Masvidal’s segment of the show was his prediction for his upcoming showdown with Demian Maia, which is scheduled for the main card of UFC 211 this May.

“I’m going to kick his ass, really bad,” Masvidal said of Maia. “It doesn’t make it through the third round. I don’t know if it’s the first, I don’t know if it’s the second, but it doesn’t make it through the third.” 

Read Masvidal’s full rundown of his bout with Maia here.

2. Michael Bisping Tells the Story of his First Meeting with Nate Diaz 

Nate Diaz is one of the most entertaining characters in MMA, and a story told by UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping is the latest bit of evidence to that end.

On a recent episode of his podcast Believe You Me, Bisping recounted his first meeting with Diaz, and well, let’s just say it’s hilariously Diaz-y.

“Nate gets out, and just as the doors are shutting, he leans back in and goes ‘Oh, I forgot man. F*ck Miller!’ and puts the two fingers up and walks off,” Bisping recalled. “And I just thought that was hilarious, it was great. I just thought ‘Okay, I like this guy. He’s cool.'”

Read Bisping’s story about Nate Diaz in full here.

3. Rafael Dos Anjos Targeted for Welterweight Debut against Tarec Saffiedine

Earlier this year, former UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos announced his intention to move up to the welterweight division. Though he’s been called out on a fairly ceaseless basis by rising prospect Colby Covington, it sounds as though he’ll instead make his debut against former Strikeforce champ Tarec Saffiedine. This report comes from our own Chris Taylor.

Former lightweight champion @RdosAnjosMMA targeted to return at #UFC212 in June against @tarecfighter for his welterweight debut

— Chris Taylor (@CTaylor_96) March 31, 2017

Read Taylor’s report here.

4. ‘King’ Mo Evens the Score with ‘Rampage’

It’s now been quite a while since the UFC has been on our screens. Thankfully, Bellator MMA came to the rescue on Friday night, promoting a big night of fights in Bellator 175.

In the main event of this card, former Strikeforce champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal took on former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in a heavyweight rematch of a 2014 light heavyweight bout.

Though Rampage won the pair’s first fight, King Mo won this rematch, wrestling his much larger foe to a decision victory. See a full recap of the fight here, and check out the MMA community’s reaction to King Mo’s win here.

5. Paul Heyman Believes WWE would ‘Embrace’ Ronda Rousey 

Having been brutally knocked out by Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes in her last two fights, its safe to say that Ronda Rousey’s MMA career has derailed. This, however, does not mean her time in the limelight is over. According to Paul Heyman, the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion would probably be embraced by the world of pro wrestling.

“I think the WWE audience would embrace Ronda Rousey with open arms,” Heyman said on the Fight Society Podcast. “Just her name recognition alone is huge. It doesn’t matter, her past two experiences in the UFC. All that matters is if she got involved in a story that people could relate to and sink their teeth into and get excited about.”

Read Heyman’s full statement on Rousey’s possible move to WWE here.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/2/2017.