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We caught up with Jorge Masvidal in Singapore as part of a media scrum ahead of UFC Fight Night Singapore. The following are the highlights from the interview.
Q) Your street fighting history is well documented. How did that turn you into the fighter that you are today? What did you learn from street fighting?
It gives you a couple of things. When you’re on the street, you don’t know who you’re going to fight. You just show up, you look at the guy and you say, “Okay, let’s go.” So that sets you in a different mindset than other things. When you’re studying a guy, you can know who the guy is, but when you’re just showing up and fighting, it’s a little different. Also, you never know if the guy has a gun, or if his friends have a gun or a knife, or if they are going to get mad and attack you after the fight. So the street fighting is completely different than real fighting.
Q) With teens now, would you encourage them to leave street fighting and go into professional and proper MMA training?
Oh, for sure. I did that because I wanted the experience and I got to make a little bit of money by betting. But I wouldn’t encourage it. I broke my hand in the second fight and just that bill alone doesn’t make it worth it. You can stay in the gym and do amateur fights, because there are a group of people who have done it already guiding you. There is a referee, a doctor, and a nurse. So if you do get hurt then they can take care of you. And that’s the main thing so that nobody gets hurt.
Q) What advice would you give to anyone trying to make it in MMA?
You have got to have a firm belief in yourself. Discipline, and not give a f**k what anybody says. At the end of the day, your best friend can tell you that you’re short and you’re fat and slow. But it doesn’t matter. It’s about getting up early every day, working harder, doing more than the other guys and you can do anything in life. Not just fighting, that can apply to almost anything in life.
Q) There are several techniques in MMA, boxing, and kickboxing. Is there one that stands out and seems to be more useful when it comes to those big matches?
I definitely love Muay Thai and collegiate style American wrestling. They are two of my favourite things from MMA that I really think are key. If you are good at one of those, you can always succeed in MMA.
Q) Why do you say that? Why these two specifically?
It just works. You see when the best guys in Muay Thai do kickboxing, they wipe the floor with the competition. I hold Muay Thai in very high regard. Especially if they are from Thailand, those guys really take care of business. Boxing is also amazing but you can kind of neutralise boxing with good kicks. So I really think Muay Thai is one of the best. To me, it is the best standing art there is. And wrestling is something you need in a fight. Because if you are good at Muay Thai but you can’t stop a takedown, it doesn’t matter. Somebody will just take you down and beat you up then. It doesn’t matter that your good at kicking or punching.
Q) Are you surprised that since Muay Thai is a very Asian thing, there are not many Asian fighters in the UFC?
I know about the Thai, they don’t care about MMA. They are so concentrated in Muay Thai that they really don’t care for it. Guys that do Muay Thai are older and they are done with their Thai boxing career. It takes a lot. It’s not something like you can just stand there and do MMA because you have to learn the grounds. They have takedowns in Muay Thai, but they don’t work the ground and standing back up to where they are good at. So it’s not surprising that there are not more Muay Thai fighters. Because I know that they just don’t train for it.
Q) So they don’t really need to go to the UFC to be good?
I’ve been in Thailand. Those guys don’t give a f**k about it. They don’t care about MMA. To them, Thai boxing is the greatest thing they can compete in and it’s awesome that they keep their culture and heritage like that. But if you get those guys at like 14-years-old and you start training them, then they could be a very big part of MMA.
Q) What do you think that UFC could do in this part of the world?
It’s really up to the people. Right now, a father goes to a show and takes his son. His son is ten years old and he goes, “Wow, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life”, then that’s it. It’s the people. In this country, in particular, soccer is the number one sport, so it has to compete with things like that.
Q) You were brought up in the streets into the sport with all that honesty and toughness. What was the best lesson that you learned in the streets that you apply in MMA and in your life?
The best thing honestly is tunnel vision. I don’t care what anybody says. Everybody says I was going to get knocked out by Cowboy or submitted by Demian Maia. But you can’t listen to them. You need to have a firm belief in yourself that no matter what happens and who you fight, be it King Kong, Godzilla, you’re going to win. That is something that you’re either born with or you have to go through a very hard life to develop it.
Watch UFC Fight Night Singapore Live and Exclusive on SONY ESPN HD, SONY ESPN SD Saturday 05:30 PM 17th June 2017.
