Jorge Masvidal appears quite interested in returning to the UFC, despite declaring his retirement from the promotion in April 2023. Currently, ‘Gamebred’ is all set to take on Nate Diaz inside the boxing ring on July 6. However, his recent interview with the ‘CBS Sports’ reporter, Shakiel Mahjouri, revealed that he had plans to rejoin the UFC after fighting Diaz. The former BMF of the UFC also disclosed that he would love to face Stephen Thompson in his comeback fight.
Masvidal has already locked horns with ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson once inside the octagon. Yet, ‘Gamebred’ failed to get his hand raised at the end of their UFC 217 encounter as the judges awarded the bout to Thompson via unanimous decision. This loss and the respect Masvidal had for Thompson made him elect the latter as his UFC comeback rival, as he said,
“You won’t find anybody who would talk bad about him. I think our second fight would be a lot better. So I would love to fight Thompson when I come back [to the UFC].”
⚡️Jorge Masvidal is aiming to get back to the UFC and believes Stephen Thompson would be a perfect opponent for him
YT / @Shak_Fu pic.twitter.com/UzwCNgRsCs
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) July 2, 2024
Well, ‘Gamebred’ may have decided to transition to the boxing ring after declaring his retirement from the UFC. But his scheduled rival, Diaz, didn’t follow his path. Instead, Diaz took a hiatus from the UFC and decided to try his hand at professional boxing. Yet, like Masvidal, Diaz has also been looking to get back in the UFC for quite some time now.
Diaz wished to return to the UFC way before Masvidal
Looking at Masvidal’s fame in the UFC community, it’s quite apparent that the UFC boss, Dana White, won’t have any objection to his comeback. The 54-year-old would happily fix another Masvidal vs. Thompson encounter because of the potential it packs in terms of generating revenue.
However, White hasn’t been that responsive towards Diaz’s desire to return to the octagon. An ‘X’ update from ‘The Stockton Gangster’ revealed that he wanted to make his return at the UFC 300, but the plan failed since the UFC head honcho wasn’t interested.
UFC 300 would be tight but there’s nobody to fight
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) December 23, 2023
Well, now that both Masvidal and Diaz have revealed their desires to back inside the octagon, the UFC boss can fix a fight between these two stars. Looking at the history between them, it’s quite apparent that a Diaz vs. Masvidal encounter would be a huge crowd-puller, which is just what White wants. Yet, only time can say if ‘Gamebred’ or ‘The Stockton Gangster’ will get an opportunity to step inside the octagon once again.
