Even if Jorge Masvidal had beaten Gilbert Burns, he would have retired at UFC 287.
Even if Jorge Masvidal had beaten Gilbert Burns, he would have retired at UFC 287. “I still would have been like, ‘Thank you everybody for the victory. But this is not like me at my best,’” Masvidal said during an interview on The MMA Hour. This past Saturday’s pay-per-view event was the final confirmation he needed to make an “accurate decision” to hang up his gloves. With a professional MMA career spanning 20 years, 52 fights, and two UFC title shots, Masvidal knew he was closer to the end of his career than the beginning. He wanted to see if the changes he had felt over time were the result of training camps where he wasn’t fully healthy.
“Well, guess what? I got to the fight camp with virtually no injury,” he said. “It was like literally one of my best fighting camps that I had. So training wise, it wasn’t like I had an excuse like, my ankle was messed up, so I couldn’t get in my road work that I usually do. No, it was like a perfect one. So there was no excuse there.” Fighting Burns was the biggest test, of course, and if Masvidal could beat his younger opponent, he might have had a chance at settling a long-simmering rivalry with champ Leon Edwards after their infamous 2019 run-in in London. But as the fight played out, Masvidal didn’t perform as he’d hoped.
“There was times I felt like I could have done way more when I did hurt Gilbert, and I did catch him, and just that spark, that boom–boom-boom, that next level, that next shift in gear wasn’t there,” Masvidal said. “And I could be a sore loser like that, because it’s been 20 years. Sounds like I’m a sore loser, right? But it’s been 20 years, and I don’t feel like it. … I saw these three punches, and like nothing happened. Now, it’s like I’m thinking way too much. When I fire back, they’re not there no more.”
Masvidal now plans to shift his attention to promoting MMA. Early this month, he oversaw a stacked Gamebred Boxing card that featured several former UFC and boxing champs, including Roy Jones Jr., Jose Aldo, and Anthony Pettis. He also promotes bare-knuckle MMA in his native Florida and is involved in other business ventures. Looking at where he started, as a brawler on the streets of Miami, Masvidal can’t help but feel grateful. “I wish I could have gone out on a W, on a couple of scraps, but it was rough, man. It’s the fight game. I still love it. I’m not bitter about it because it’s the fight game. This is what I signed up for, to kill or be killed. And this is why I love this game. And I’m always gonna be behind this game promoting the next future stars of the sport. It’s gonna be a fun roller coaster as a promoter.”