Kamaru Usman has accused Jorge Masvidal of doing everything he can to avoid a fight, as ‘Gamebred’ voices Conor McGregor preference.
The two have been feuding for some time, and it has looked as though the pair would meet in the Octagon at some point.
Masvidal however recently named Conor McGregor as his preferred next target.
Gamebred suggested that the publicity and paycheck of a bout with McGregor would be a bigger short-term prize than the welterweight title.
‘Bigger Fight’
Masvidal said (via MMA Junkie): “Conor is obviously flirting with the idea of fighting me.”
“If me and Conor go in the octagon, what happens?”
“It’s one of the biggest fights in history, just by math what Conor’s been doing and the last couple fights I’ve had.”
“Obviously it’s a formula for success.”
“Someone will always have the belt at 170 pounds,”.
“Conor is a bigger fight.”
And Usman, who has fired shots at Masvidal before, took to Twitter to call the 35-year-old out for avoiding him.
He wrote: “For all you real fans out there that know what’s up @GamebredFighter is doing everything possible to avoid taking this L”
“@danawhite has spoken so STFU and take this ass whooping like the journeyman you are and then you can go fight Conor #OnceaBumalwaysaBum”
Unworthy
Adding to the Nightmare’s frustration is that he isn’t convinced Masvidal is worthy of a title shot in the first place.
He said: “This is a game to where you need to fight the contenders that are there,”
“If there’s just an average guy that’s looking into the sport of martial arts and they’re like, ‘Oh, the welterweight champion is going to fight somebody.”
“Who’s that contender?”
“If you look in that top 10, I’ve beaten half of them,”
“I’ve gone through half of them.”
“Who in that top 10 has this guy beat?”
“To me, is this being a contender or is this the hype?”
“There are two different things.”
Bad Blood
While there is clearly bad blood between Masvidal and Usman, it looks as though Gamebred will go where the money is.
But the Miami-born UFC veteran said should he be offered the same money for both fights, he’d rather hurt Usman than ‘Notorious’.
“It’s a money thing, at first,” Masvidal said.
“Usman, I can’t stand him.”
“I can’t stand that dude.”
“I’ll be honest with you.”
“If it’s all the same potatoes and tomatoes, I’ll break [Usman’s] f***ing face and in a violent way.”
It’s unlikely the UFC would offer a similar purse for both, meaning Masvidal will inevitably lean towards a big money fight with Notorious.
But given the bad blood between him and Usman, could we see Gamebred go up against both?
(Featured image source: Instagram/ Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal)