Jorge Masvidal: I can’t fight Conor McGregor because ‘I don’t wanna go to jail’

Shortly after he knocked out Ben Askren at UFC 239, streaking welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal began campaigning for a fight with former UFC featherweight and welterweight champ Conor McGregor.

In the end, however, talk of this matchup fizzled when UFC President Dana White claimed that Masvidal is “too big” for a matchup with McGregor, and that he wouldn’t book the matchup on those grounds.

Speaking on ESPN’s Get Up, Masvidal revisited this saga, giving his take on why Dana White nixed this matchup.

"That fight the president deemed it not good because they don't want like a murder charge on me."@GamebredFighter talked about the possibility of a fight with Conor McGregor and @Espngreeny was SHOOK pic.twitter.com/RRmuuUkm8K

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) September 19, 2019

“That fight the president deemed it not good because they don’t want like a murder charge on me,” Masvidal said (via MMA News). “So they’re not gonna allow that to happen. The president himself already said it, so I don’t wanna go to jail for killing nobody. That’s not what I wanna do. I’m here to compete and beat people up.

“The president said that we can’t compete because I’m too much man. So that can’t happen. We’re different spectrums. He’s not gonna allow that to happen.”

While White was adamant Conor McGregor was too small for a fight with Jorge Masvidal, McGregor apparently disagreed.

“‘That pisses me off that you say he’s too big for me,’” White said, paraphrasing what McGregor said to him. “I’m telling you guys, I’ve said it a million times, and I’ll say it again, this guy will fight anybody. And I don’t care if he’s pissed off about it or not, I think Masvidal is too big for Conor. So, if we ever get to that point, I’m sure it’s something that Conor and I will fight about.”

How do you think a matchup between Conor McGregor and Jorge Masvidal would go? Would you give McGregor a chance despite being at a size disadvantage?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/19/2019.