Shortly after the “Baddest Motherf***er” championship fight at UFC 244 ended due to doctor stoppage, Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz were emphatic in their desire to run back a rematch immediately. It turns out the decision-maker, UFC president Dana White, wasn’t as encouraged by what he saw in the first showdown between the two. Following an utterly dominant performance by Masvidal to cap what his arguably the most impressive year of any fighter on the roster, White had this to say.
“It doesn’t interest me right away,” White said, per MMA Junkie. “I think that I got asked a couple of questions tonight. ‘Diaz comes on in the later rounds. If this fight had gone later, would they have stopped it?’ But it didn’t. It got stopped with cuts and Masvidal looked very dominant.”
The official scorecard had Diaz winning all three rounds, including a pair of 10-8 scores in the second round. Masvidal came into Saturday’s bout riding a two-fight win streak, knocking out Darren Till before earning the fastest knockout in UFC history with a stunning flying knee to the face of Ben Askren. He battled Diaz, who after three years away from the Octagon returned in August to defeat Anthony Pettis before calling him out in a battle to become the UFC’s real “BMF.”
With the win, the No. 3-ranked welterweight sits behind only title-holder Kamra Usman, former interim champion Colby Covington and former champion Tyron Woodley. What’s next for Masvidal isn’t known at this time. But if White isn’t interested in a rematch with Diaz, an eventual showdown with Woodley, a potential showdown with Conor McGregor or even a title fight of his own certainly makes sense on paper.
