Without question, last Saturday’s Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren pay-per-view boxing match generated more buzz than the ESPN-aired UFC Fight Night against which it ran.
That didn’t go well for Askren, the three-time UFC veteran and one-time Olympic freestyle wrestler notorious for his poor striking skills, as he suffered a first-round TKO against YouTube-personality-turned-boxer Paul.
It probably should be Jorge Masvidal, who headlines Saturday’s UFC 261 pay-per-view event at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena as he challenges Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title for the second time in nine months, trying his hand in the ring these days. Not only did Masvidal famously knock out Askren in 2019 with a flying knee (not a legal strike in boxing, granted) in just five seconds, but his pugilistic potential excites even renowned trainers from that world.
So, with Masvidal (35-14, 18 finishes) at the height of his drawing power and, evidently, not close to retirement, would the 18-year veteran mixed martial artist step into the ring any time soon? “Definitely,” he told The Post over the phone recently, especially “when you think about the paychecks” top-draw boxers bring home compared to those in MMA.
“Of course, I would love to box,” Masvidal said. “Am I a boxer of the highest caliber compared to other boxers? Hell no. That’s what they do for a living. They throw 10,000 jabs a month, a week, a day. I gotta worry about jiu-jitsu. I gotta worry about wrestling, strength and conditioning to be able to wrestle. There’s a lot of other things.”
Still, Masvidal feels his most natural MMA skill is boxing, which he says came to him “like a fish in water ince the first day I laced up the gloves and they let me go in the ring.” Unlike many of his MMA peers who talk about boxing aspirations, he already won his boxing debut in 2005 just two months after moving to 6-1 in MMA with a win over eventual longtime UFC veteran Joe Lauzon.
Masvidal’s passion for boxing shines through when the topic comes up, as does his desire to make big money while still an active athlete.
“Obviously, I would love to go and land a huge paycheck, and there’s numerous guys I could compete against that could generate the paychecks I’m looking for.”
The major roadblock to such aspirations is the UFC, which only made an exception to have one of its active, contracted stars crossover to the ring when Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. could generate millions for the MMA promotion as well, back in 2017.
Masvidal, whose father fled Cuba long before the fighter was born, compared the UFC to “kind of like a communist regime at times” due to the restrictions placed on his ability to earn in the ring separately from his UFC career. Nonetheless, he’s confident the day will come, and he wants to fly the MMA flag when he does it.
“I’ll cross on over and bring home a win for MMA. I don’t think there’s any [big] wins yet, MMA vs. boxing. I would love to be the first guy to bring a win for my community, my beautiful sport that I’ve been in love with since [I was] a child.”
Usman (18-1, nine finishes) told The Post he has been “lapping these guys” at 170 pounds. He may have a point, given that he’s beaten the top four welterweights in the UFC’s proprietary contender rankings: Colby Covington, Gilbert Burns, Leon Edwards and Masvidal. He also holds wins over Demian Maia and Tyron Woodley further down the top 10.
That leaves four men Usman has yet to face among that group of 10: Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque, Michael Chiesa and Neil Magny. Of that group, Luque sounded the most appealing to the champ, in part because the two are good friends and former training partners but also thanks to a 9-1 run over the past four years, with eight victories coming via finish. That includes a first-round submission of Woodley last month.
“Luque is definitely putting himself on that fast track if he continues to perform and beat these guys the way he’s been beating these guys,” Usman said.
Thompson, the only man to beat Luque in his last 10, doesn’t entice Usman nearly as much. Often referred to by his nickname, “Wonderboy” had twice previously challenged ex-champ Woodley for the title but first drew and then lost a majority decision in a part of close contests. He has been less active since the second Woodley bout in March 2017, going 3-2 but with wins over Luque, Masvidal and Geoff Neal, the latter coming in December.
“As far as the Wonderboy fight: At the end of the day, he’s gotten two chances, to cracks at the belt with Tyron Woodley, and unfortunately he was unable to [win] it,” said Usman, who claimed the title from Woodley in March 2019 with a dominant five-round decision victory. “And then look what I did to Tyron Woodley. It’s just one of those things where, do I get up for that? That’s gotta be substantial compensation in order for me to say I’m gonna put my mind, body and soul through a training camp for a fight like that, that I already know kind of how that’s gonna go.”
The other two championship bouts at UFC 261 feature flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko facing former strawweight titleholder Jessica Andrade, plus current 115-pound champ Zhang Weili against another former strawweight champion in Rose Namajunas.
Namajunas lost her belt to Andrade in 2019, then Zhang took it from her three months later. Namajunas earned her latest title fight with a decision win over Andrade last July and now aims to become the first woman two reclaim the strawweight belt after losing it.
During her first title run, which lasted 18 months from the time she TKO’d Joanna Jedrzejczyk at Madison Square Garden in November 2017 to the slam KO she suffered at the hands of the powerful Andrade, she held the lofty aspiration to “make the world a better place.” Looking back, she admits she lacked a plan for doing so.
Now, she has a clearer picture of what that means for her, and it involves combining two of her passions: martial arts and nature. She had an epiphany to build an earthship, a house made of natural and upcycled materials, that “just kind of hit me” shortly before speaking to The Post on Wednesday.
“I decided that I want to buy some land and start building Earthship MMA Academy,” Namajunas said.
The idea would be to help inner-city kids that “need an outlet and would like to learn martial arts and a bit about nature.” An impactful trip to Indonesia last year helping to build an earthship planting the seed for her planned new endeavor.
