Jorge Masvidal born on November 12 1984, and raised in Miami, Florida. To a Cuban father and Peruvian mother.
It was said his father escaped and left Cuba, on a self-made raft, which ended up in the Virgin Islands.
Masvidal had a tough upbringing with little or no role models to keep him on a straight and narrow path. His father known for his criminal activity was jailed for manslaughter and drug trafficking.
Growing up Jorge, showed early signs of an instinct for combat and never backing down from a challenge.
His early years, Gamebred was involved in street fights quite regularly. There is even video evidence of some of his backyard brawls on Youtube. Most notably his famous victory over one of the greatest urban legends in Street fighting ‘Kimbo Slices’ protege, which put Jorge Masvidals name out there on the Internet.
A long career spanning of 48 fights, with 35 wins and 13 loses, he truly has fought the who’s who in Mixed Martial Arts. Competing on ‘Bodog’, ‘Bellator’, ‘StrikeForce’, ‘UFC‘ and many more. Always facing tough opposition and always showing a good account of himself.
However, falling short on some razor close decisions left his career in a kind of gatekeeper position. Winning a few and losing a few here and there.
In 2018 he took a year off to focus on his self and improve.
During this period, he received many offers for fights, with many falling through leaving Jorge a little frustrated. His manager was trying to create some kind of opportunity to progress his career, came up with an idea for Jorge.
He had some injuries from his loss against ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson. His manager called one day stating they had no fight, however, he had something else.
He got an offer to be part of a Reality TV show, showcasing Athlete’s who must compete on Athletic tasks to win basic rights to survive, in a jungle within the Dominican Republic.
The show had many other athletes from different disciplines, at first not interested, Jorge was later convinced to take the opportunity for a paycheck, while the UFC looks for a fight for him.
During his 13 weeks on the shoe, he got time alone, to focus on his mind and ‘manage his thoughts, micromanage, reverse engineering, whatever you wanna call it, was the time I had alone with my thoughts’ as he said on Brendan Shaubs ‘Foodtruck Diaries’
He had no access to the Internet, mobile phones or tv ‘My creativity comes from me being alone’
This helped him develop a stronger sense of belonging to this sport he had slightly lost interest in. He came with a massive bang, facing Darren Till at UFC London, March 16th 2019 where he won by ferocious KO in round 2.
He had a newfound glow about him and focus, where you can see a determined Jorge, where nothing can stop his drive now, he seems to have found his flow again. He has found his sense of belonging once again.
Then a 5 second KO over Ben Askren at UFC 239 July 6th 2019, which is now the fastest ever KO in UFC history. Then a controversial TKO doctors stoppage against Nate Diaz boosted his stocks to unseen levels for Masvidal.
A year ago nobody saw this was coming for Jorge and he has taken this new drive and ran with it.
Now slotted in to face current Welterweight King Kamaru Usman this Saturday. A fight he got because Gilbert Burns tested positive for COVID – 19 and was forced to withdraw from the bout.
In comes, Masvidal on 6 days notices to top off an already monster of a fight card by the UFC with 3 title fights.
A huge task, against a very dominant Wrestler. However, if Masvidal can somehow pull off this victory, his story and career had to go down as one of the coolest stories of a fighters life ever full stop.
My prediction Usman by decision however I feel Masvidal can score the KO if he can get comfortable and establish his striking early.
Subscribe
