UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal won’t be putting his “BMF” belt on the line when he faces Gilbert Burns at UFC 287. Burns recently Tweeted a request that their clash be five rounds for the novelty belt, but Masvidal took to The MMA Hour to dismiss the idea out of hand.
“Three rounds is more than enough that I need for Gilbert. I like all the publicity and extra that he’s putting into it, but brother, three rounds is all I need for that.” Masvidal, who will enter the fight riding a three-fight skid, will be looking to return to winning ways.
Masvidal Refuses To Put “BMF” Belt On The Line Against Gilbert Burns
“I’m glad it’s a guy like Gilbert. … I’ve been in this sport, and it’s only been to fight the best of the best of the best in the world, and he’s perfect in a lot of ways for me to test my grappling, because I know he’s going to come test me in grappling.
I know he’s going to talk a big game that he’s going to come and strike with me and all this BMF s***, but at the end of the day, I’m ‘Gamebred,’ he’s Gilbert, he’s going to go for the takedown, 100 miles per hour and hope that he gets in, and if that fails, he’ll come strike with me.
So I’m going to be prepared to grapple him, and the next and the next and the next, because I know I’ve got the hands to beat all these guys. I’ve got the knees and elbows that change lives in seconds. I’ve just got to fine-tune a couple things, and I’ve been working on it.”
Masvidal has made no secret of his aim to capture UFC gold, and nor has his opponent. “It’s nothing personal.
I actually like Gilbert. Somebody tells me Gilbert is fighting, I’ll sit down and watch that motherf***** on my phone. He comes to fight. I remember when Gilbert came in and was just a jiu-jitsu guy, hugging people, he was like nervous, then he came up to 170 and started laying people out. He’s a great fighter, and I think he’s going to be a great fighter for a while, even after me.
But on April 8, I’m going to clean his clock. On April 8, I’m going to beat the brakes off that dude. He’s going to pull up to the drive-thru, and you know what, he’s going to get the same thing that Leon’s going to get after I get to Gilbert. And you know what, maybe [Usman] gets another foot to the face … and then I’m fighting Leon. This is a movie ending. You couldn’t even put this in a movie, and now all these book deals that they’ve been sending me, movies they’ve been sending me, ‘10x that, motherf*****! Don’t even talk to me! Forget last week’s deal, this is this today’s deal, motherf*****!’”
