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At the age of 34, Jorge Masvidal has finally experienced what every fighter who enters the MMA scene wants from their time there — a headline-making year.
2019 has been the best year for the Welterweight fighter in his entire career. Looking back, it's hard to imagine the struggles he went through to reach where he is today. Long before coming to UFC, Askren has been fighting inside the MMA cage proving his mettle. In this article, we are going to take a brief look back at the carer of Jorge Masvidal and put forth our reason for saying that 2019 is indeed his year.
Starting at the bottom
As far back as 2003, an 18-year-old up-and-coming fighter named Jorge Masvidal entered the MMA scene. It was in AFC that he began his career. In fact, until 2006, AFC was his home and he fought there against each opponent that came his way, winning all but one fight in the company. He lost another fight in a separate promotion during this time as well.
In late-2006, he left the safety of Fort Lauderdale and fought and won in three BoDog fights in Costa Rica, Russia, and New Jersey.
Over the course of the next 6 years, Masvidal would fight for Strikeforce and Bellator among other promotions, racking up a record of 23-7 by 2012.
Jorge Masvidal joins UFC
In April of 2013, Masvidal made his debut in UFC and immediately picked up a win against Tim Means. This was followed by another win against Michael Chiesa, but just as it was looking like Masvidal was finally making progress and was about to break through, his run was interrupted by a loss in late-2013 against Rustam Khabilov.
This was the exact pattern his career would follow over the next five years.
Another three wins after this loss saw his streak interrupted by a loss to Al Iaquinta. A win against Cezar Ferreira would be followed by two back-to-back losses. Finally, a 3-fight win streak interrupted by another two back-to-back losses to Demian Maia and Stephen Thompson.
Each time he finally got the big fight that could see him make his name, he lost. However, he never gave up and bounced back each time.
2019 for Jorge Masvidal
Darren Till vs Jorge Masvidal
After his two losses in 2017, Masvidal did not fight in 2018. When he ultimately did return, it could not have been in a bigger fight.
He was heading into a fight with a person who had been termed as the best newcomer in UFC until he had lost his previous fight.
A win here would spell a big push for Masvidal.
That's exactly what happened. In the second round of their fight, Masvidal was able to knock out Darren Till. The KO came as if from nowhere, and handed Masvidal his first win in two years and a headline in the papers.
Ben Askren vs Jorge Masvidal
With one win against his name, it felt as if that was all that Masvidal would get in 2019, as his next opponent was none other than Ben Askren.
Heading into this fight Askren, although controversial, was still the undefeated former Bellator and ONE FC Champion, who even had a win in the UFC. Everyone felt that Masvidal would be another name in the long list of fighters he had beaten.
Instead, lighting struck.
Masvidal wasted no time and read Askren like an open book. In the opening second, he ran up to Askren and hit him with a knee straight to his head. Askren went over like a tree that had been chopped down, and before anyone had time to yell 'timber', the fight was done. Masvidal had won in 5 seconds.
That was the win that saw Masvidal reach the status he has today, with his name in the headlines almost daily. After 16 years of fighting in MMA, Masvidal had done what he had set out to do and made his name.
Now, he is set to fight for the BMF title against Nate Diaz in what is the biggest fight in his entire career.
Why is Jorge Masvidal already the real BMF?
At UFC 244, Jorge Masvidal is set to go face to face with Nate Diaz for the new UFC BMF title. But the truth is, it does not matter even if he does not win.
Jorge Masvidal has already done what he needed to do to be called a BMF. Whether he wins or loses in his fight no longer matters.
Every time that Jorge Masvidal lost in his career, he got straight back in the Octagon and fought to set matters right. No matter how many times he faced a set-back or lost the 'big fight' he never gave up hope, kept his head up and his attitude in place.
Now, facing Nate Diaz, he no longer has anything left to prove.
With the wins over Askren and Till this year, Masvidal has officially made 2019 the year of Jorge 'Gamebred' Masvidal.
Winning the fight against Nate Diaz will definitely formalize him as the BMF titleholder, but no matter what the conclusion, to his fans Masvidal will always be the real BMF.
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