Jorge Masvidal predicts people will feel bad for ‘Wonderboy’ after he’s finished with him at UFC 217
Jorge Masvidal is never shy about making predictions ahead of his fights.
When he was taking on Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone earlier this year, Masvidal promised that he was going to make short work of the former title contender and that’s exactly what he did with a vicious second round TKO to vault himself up the welterweight rankings.
While he did suffer a slight setback in May, losing a split decision to Demian Maia, Masvidal is more than ready to get back on track as he faces Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson on Saturday night at UFC 217.
Masvidal has seen plenty of footage on “Wonderboy” and the creative striking attacks that he’s used to earn wins over fighters such as Johny Hendricks and Rory MacDonald but he still sees a lot of holes that he plans to expose once they start trading hands inside the Octagon.
“[If this stays standing] it’s me putting him away bad,” Masvidal predicted. “Me hurting that dude. People feeling bad for him watching at home. I know I’m a better striker than him. It’s just a matter of going in there and doing it already. I know the mistakes he makes and I’m going to be able to expose him.
“He’s got all that crazy karate s–t and I’m going to come to fight. I’m going to get in his face and break his jaw. It’s going to be violence.”
For the first time in more than a year, Thompson is facing someone other than welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, who he fought to a draw in their first matchup before falling by unanimous decision in the rematch earlier this year.
Masvidal learned a lot about Thompson from those two fights against Woodley, especially with how he sat back and refused to engage after he got cracked with a couple of power shots from the champion. Masvidal says Thompson won’t get to relax in this fight because he’s going to be fending off a flurry of strikes at least until his chin gives out anyways.
“They had a lot of stalemates and they had a lot of action packed moments. I just think from the first one he was real tentative after he got touched,” Masvidal said. “I think that got in his mind that [Woodley] could put him out at any moment. He got touched two times real good in that first fight. I think that’s what made him tentative in the second fight, just waiting for his openings.
“I’m going to go out there and make my openings. I’m not going to wait for him. I’m just gonna go and take it.”
While the UFC has already said that the winner of the upcoming fight between former champion Robbie Lawler and Rafael dos Anjos will get the next crack at the welterweight title, Masvidal believes he can still take that spot with an impressive outing against “Wonderboy”.
Considering how close Thompson came to taking the title on two different occasions, Masvidal can’t imagine a bigger win than knocking him out on the biggest card of the year at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“I definitely think beating “Wonderboy” that the title shot should be given,” Masvidal said. “Plus everything I’ve done in the sport. Just a win over “Wonderboy” just solidifies it. I got the most split decision losses in the UFC. I got a lot of losses that shouldn’t even have been a split.
“I’ve got a good record and it’s just a matter of showing up, performing and wiping the mat with this dude.”
