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Jorge Masvidal has seemingly accepted that the Conor McGregor fight won't be next for him. He was Octagon-side at UFC 246 but wasn't called out by The Notorious One as expected. With that said, Masvidal may have been mentally prepared for that, as he mentioned beforehand in an interview that he didn't expect to be called out.
He also said that if it were up to him and the payday was the same, he would have gone for UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman first. Either way, it's not a bad alternative for him as Dana White has been pushing for Usman vs Masivdal for a while now.
When appearing on Le Batard and Friends” podcast (H/T MMA Fighting), Masvidal spoke about what's next for him and indicated that it's the UFC Welterweight Championship that he'll be competing for.
“He’s talking a lot of sh*t. But it’s all s**t cause he doesn’t want this. He could have cut the sickest promo — he could have cut the sickest promo of life. Had everybody extra wanting it and talking about it. We kind of understand where they’re going.
He revealed his intentions with Usman and said that he'll wait it out for Conor McGregor.
“Certain things he said on the microphone as well that he doesn’t feel he’s not up to speed, that he needs to work on this, he needs to work on that. I get it, man. Go back in there, find your timing, when you feel you’re ready for the challenge, we do it. There’s no rush. I’ll go get my title meanwhile. I’ll go f**k up [Kamaru] Usman meanwhile, and then me and Conor can talk in the future if he wants to or not. It doesn’t really matter. I’m not here to bully people into fights or keep asking for the fight. I’m going to go about my business like I said I always will.”
No doubt that should Masvidal dethrone Usman, he can get a crack at Conor McGregor. The Irishman would be too tempted not to take the opportunity to become a World Champion across three different weight divisions.
Either way, a title shot against Usman is anything but a downgrade for Masvidal. With that said, Usman is perceived to be a much tougher match-up for Masvidal than Conor McGregor or any of his previous opponents.
