Jorge Masvidal gets real about how age affected his performance inside the octagon
Jorge Masvidal recently opened up about his decision to retire from MMA and revealed how his age began affecting his performances in the octagon. After Gilbert Burns handed him his fourth straight loss at UFC 287, 'Gamebred' hung up his gloves after a storied career that spanned two decades.
One of the sport's longest-active fighters, Masvidal famously held the UFC's BMF title and set the record for the fastest knockout in promotional history. While he may have retired from fighting, the Miami native is still involved in combat sports through running his promotions iKON FC and Gamebred Fighting Championship.
While Jorge Masvidal hasn't yet shut the door on the possibility of him returning to the cage, he knew it was time to step away from MMA. In a recent interview with Marc Raimondi of ESPN MMA, 'Gamebred' broke down how his age played a role in his decision to retire. He stated:
"Here's the honest truth, I'm still fast. I'm still explosive. I have good endurance... But there's just a couple of things that, as you get older, they slow down... I've been feeling from 34 to 37 that, in that department and solely in that department, my reflexes and reaction time took a big dip."
He continued:
"When you ask me about coming back to fighting, my heart, body, mind, and soul want to do it but do I want to be like a stepping stone?"
Catch Jorge Masvidal's comments below (9:38):
Jorge Masvidal retirement: Colby Covington claims 'Gamebred' retired from MMA to use steroids
UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal fought Gilbert Burns at UFC 287 in his last MMA bout and was handed a decision loss after three rounds. The Miami native gave an emotional farewell speech as he took his gloves off and announced his retirement in front of his home crowd.
'Gamebred' was on a four-fight losing streak and last tasted victory against Nate Diaz in 2019. The 38-year-old had 52 professional fights under his belt over his two-decade-long career, and his loss to 'Durinho' was confirmation to him that his days of challenging top-ranked fighters for the title were over.
However, Colby Covington recently claimed that Jorge Masvidal has stepped away from the sport in order to be able to use steroids. In an interview with Inside Fighting, 'Chaos' accused Jorge Masvidal of faking his retirement and stated:
“It’s a fake retirement... We all know people in the UFC that don’t retire, they’ll get out of the USADA pool, probably go do some steroids, and come back because he doesn’t know how to make money in any other way than fighting.”
Watch the full interview below: