Jorge Masvidal's campaign against the UFC is Doomed to Fail
He's the BMF Champion, he holds the record for the fastest knockout in UFC history and, he's the only man to have knocked Darren Till out cold. And you know what? This is just what he did in his last three fights. Jorge Masvidal is a legend of the sport and no one can ever take that away from him.
But at the same time, right now what Masvidal is trying to achieve against the UFC is doomed to fail. Before everything let's get a few things straight about Jorge. In 2019, when Jorge made a comeback in the UFC after a prolonged break he challenged Darren Till, a fighter that no one was willing to fight. He went overseas, knocked out Till, who was ranked #3 in the Welterweight Divison in two rounds despite entering the fight as an underdog.
Up next he fought Ben Askren, an undefeated fighter with Championships in two other promotions and registered the fastest knockout in the history of UFC. To cap it off he defeated Nate Diaz to become the BMF Champion(a belt specifically created for the match). Jorge Masvidal is not a man who backs down from fights and when we look at Gilbert Burns jumping Masvidal in the queue for the Welterweight title at UFC 251 it's not because Jorge is scared of Kamaru Usman. It is simply because Jorge doesn't like the way he has been treated by the UFC by offering him lesser money than what he made in his last fight against Nate Diaz.
The problem for Masvidal is the lack of support that he has been able to garner from his fellow fighters. UFC faced a storm when all of a sudden Henry Cejudo retired apparently because of a lack of money, the public negotiations with Jon Jones turned ugly, and then Conor Mcgregor retired out of nowhere. At this moment when Masvidal spoke out about the lack of revenue share for the fighters, he had the momentum behind him.
At that moment though, what Jorge needed to do was rally all the fighters together including Jon Jones, Henry Cejudo, and Conor Mcgregor and bring them on a common platform like ESPN and Sportscentre so that these fighters were heard. This would have even helped to mobilize and bring in even more fighters together.
On the contrary, when you have unpredictable personalities like Jon Jones and Conor McGregor, it gets hard to get them on the same platform and get something done. When Masvidal appeared on SportsCenter and talked about the issues with the fighter pay it did raise questions against UFC. He was able to make himself heard and bring people on his side.
Sadly though, Masvidal hasn't done it enough. He hasn't reached out to that many media outlets and spoke out. Multiple podcasts cover UFC, there are media outlets as well that he could have reached out. He's limited himself to rants on social media which just don't work.
The reason why Masvidal is doomed in his fight against UFC also has something to do with the fact that the fighters are just not united enough, even when it is for a common goal. Even Jon Jones, arguably the GOAT of MMA, one of the sharpest minds inside the octagon didn't think it was wiser to join hands with Masvidal in his quest for more money and better treatment.
The movement Masvidal has been trying to put in place is just not mobilized enough. Not many people are with him on this quest and slowly the momentum he had gained by the end of UFC 250 PPV has faded away. If Masvidal thinks that him sitting out will stop the ball from rolling for the UFC then he's in for a huge surprise, UFC has been at the center of many such disputes and whenever a fighter has tried to fight the system alone, he has never succeeded.
Masvidal, despite being the fighter of the year 2019 is staring at the barrel right now, fighting a battle he's destined to lose with a next to nothing support for him. The best thing he could do right now is to understand the facts that at the age of 35, he doesn't have that many years left in him. He's one of the biggest star attractions for UFC and sitting out only means losing out on some big money. The harsh reality for Jorge would be to cave into UFC's demands and take the next fight. He can't afford to sit out in the latter stages of his career especially when he finally has the chance to make it count.