"He's gonna paint a Picasso" - Jorge Masvidal spills inside news on Dustin Poirier's preparation for Justin Gaethje
MMA legend and former BMF champion Jorge Masvidal has provided fans with insight regarding Dustin Poirier's preparations for the latter's upcoming rematch against Justin Gaethje.
Their first encounter was a back-and-forth lightweight bout, which witnessed Poirier defeat Gaethje via fourth-round TKO. In the ensuing years, both Poirier and Gaethje won the interim UFC lightweight title.
Masvidal, the inaugural BMF champion, retired from MMA in April 2023, and the UFC's symbolic BMF title was thereby vacated. Presently, Dustin Poirier is booked to face Justin Gaethje in a rematch, a five-round lightweight bout for the vacant BMF title. Their fight will headline UFC 291 on July 29th, 2023.
For the past several years, Masvidal has trained at the world-renowned ATT (American Top Team) gym in Coconut Creek, Florida, alongside fighters such as Dustin Poirier.
In a recent interview with Chamatkar Sandhu, 'Gamebred' alluded to knowing how hard his teammate Poirier is training for the Gaethje rematch. Additionally, Masvidal feels Gaethje is likely going to "make a lot of adjustments" for the rematch.
He believes 'The Highlight's coaches will advise him on correcting his mistakes in their 2018 fight. Masvidal indicated that Gaethje could utilize a new strategy besides placing additional emphasis on what worked last time around.
Coming to his longtime teammate Poirier, Masvidal asserted that 'The Diamond' would put forth a masterpiece of a performance akin to the legendary painter Pablo Picasso. 'Gamebred' stated:
"From what I know from Dustin, man, he's got some new tricks up his sleeve that are just looking very, very clean in practice. And I think Dustin's gonna surprise a lot of people in this fight. And I don't think people will be surprised that he wins, I just -- Man, the training that I've been seeing he's been doing in the gym, he looks amazing. But I've been hearing from the coaches as well. I think he's gonna paint a Picasso."
Watch Jorge Masvidal discuss the topic at 21:47 in the video below:
Jorge Masvidal on possibly presenting the BMF title to the Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje winner at UFC 291
During the UFC 290 post-event press conference earlier this month, MMA Junkie's Mike Bohn asked UFC president Dana White about Jorge Masvidal possibly presenting the BMF title belt to the Poirier-Gaethje winner. White appeared to approve of Masvidal wrapping the belt around the waist of the BMF title victor.
I asked Dana White about Jorge Masvidal’s idea to wrap the BMF title around Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje at UFC 291, and he said he wants to do it: “I like it. Done.”
In his interview with Chamatkar Sandhu, Jorge Masvidal insinuated that the UFC has approved the idea. He also thanked Mike Bohn for speaking to Dana White about it. 'Gamebred' further implied that the winners of BMF title fights in the years to come would similarly present the belt to their successors. The Miami native said:
"That's what I heard. It's happening. It's on... It's gonna happen when I go out there, wrap the belt around the winner. And the tradition lives on." [*Quotes at the 19:33-minute mark of the interview]
Dustin Poirier will face Justin Gaethje for the vacant BMF title on July 29 at UFC 291 in Salt Lake City, UFC announced Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/wuwPS9iavR