MIAMI – When all you’ve ever known for your adult life is fighting in a cage, it could be hard to walk away. That appears to be the case for retired UFC star Jorge Masvidal.
Masvidal called it a career last month after another lopsided unanimous decision loss, this time to Gilbert Burns at UFC 287 in “Gamebred’s” hometown of Miami. Rather than go back to the drawing board, Masvidal, 38, decided to announce his retirement.
So Masvidal is retired, but whether or not it’s permanent is open for discussion.
“I’ll never rule out coming back,” Masvidal told reporters after his Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA event last Friday. “I did MMA at a professional level for 20 years, and it’s all I know. So I’ll never say I’m not coming back.”
Yes, retirement was a choice. But in a way, Masvidal indicated it was forced on him. At 38 and on a four-fight losing streak that included two title-fight losses to Kamaru Usman (one by knockout), Colby Covington and Burns, Masvidal came to the realization that he’s no longer the fighter he used to be.
“As of right now, the way that my reflexes are and just my body is aged, I don’t think I can compete with the five best in the world right now,” Masvidal said. “And that’s what I signed up to do in MMA, is go against the best in the world. I’ll never rule it out. I love fighting more than anything.”
While Masvidal remains out of the cage as a competitor, he’s still very much in the fight game as a promoter of MMA and boxing events, which provides his fix for the time being.
“Definitely love promoting fights,” Masvidal said. “There’s nothing more that I love than fighting. Fighting is the funnest sh*t that I’ve ever done in my whole life, but promoting’s pretty damn close in a way. I’m not competing, but it’s something that I like a lot.”
