Popular Jorge Masvidal ready to seize UFC 251 opportunity

Fireworks went off when Jorge Masvidal finally agreed to terms on a welterweight title fight against champion Kamaru Usman for the main event of UFC 251 on Saturday.

It was just a coincidence but also served as a perfect illustration of just how excited much of the mixed martial arts world was to finally see Masvidal get a title shot after nearly two decades in the sport.

Masvidal was next in line for the championship opportunity until negotiations stalled last month. The UFC moved on and awarded the fight to the far less popular Gilbert Burns. Then Burns tested positive for coronavirus last week and was pulled from the fight, giving Masvidal a powerful negotiating position just a week out from the organization’s first event on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi.

Masvidal spent Fourth of July at a barbecue hosted by his manager in South Florida, with the pair periodically stepping away from the festivities to take calls from UFC brass. Eventually the deal got done and Masvidal got even more favorable terms than he was asking for originally, according to manager Malki Kawa.

Signing the contract was just the beginning. Masvidal had to get to Las Vegas for a first round of coronavirus testing and quarantine as he awaited results. A sponsor secured a private plane to Abu Dhabi, but another quarantine and round of testing awaited him upon his arrival.

He had media obligations and a 20-pound weight cut in front of him, all in the span of six days.

That’s all before he has to step in the cage with Usman, the 170-pound champion who possesses the type of elite wrestling skills that look on paper like the kryptonite for a veteran who started his career competing in backyard street brawls in Miami.

Masvidal, whose popularity is at an all-time high after securing three spectacular wins in 2019, isn’t concerned about the matchup or the short notice.

“At the end of the day, it’s a fight, not a math test,” he said on a conference call Thursday. “I’m as prepared as I need to be for Usman, but obviously it’s not a full training camp as if I had six weeks to prepare. But everything else, my mind is ready, my heart is ready, my skill set is better than his any day of the week, so I just gotta go out and prove it.”

It’s not like Masvidal has been lying around doing nothing. He already had a game plan in place because of the earlier negotiations when he believed he was going to fight Usman. He has also been serving as a primary training partner for lightweight star Dustin Poirier, who fought in Las Vegas two weeks ago.

So it’s not a typical one-week notice situation. But Masvidal had one more obstacle thrown in his way this week.

His coach Mike Brown tested positive for coronavirus and was unable to make the trip, which Masvidal called “devastating.”

Brown expressed a similar emotion in a statement, lamenting that he won’t be able to be with Masvidal when he finally puts a UFC belt around his waist and does it inside a safe zone created on an island in Abu Dhabi.

It’s an image Masvidal, 35, who turned pro in 2003, has tried to avoid thinking too much. “… Otherwise I might get overwhelmed,” he said. “ I’m just here to fight. If it’s in England, Mars, wherever.”

The rivalry between the South Florida-based fighters has been simmering for several years, with the most notable incident a verbal confrontation at Super Bowl media day in Miami in February when it appeared they were on a collision course to meet in the cage.

The path became a circuitous one that strayed halfway around the globe, but they finally will fight on Saturday in the headliner of a card featuring two other title bouts.

UFC 251 will take place early Sunday morning local time to air in the traditional time slot in North America.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.