Getty Jorge Masvidal
Jorge Masvidal, the man who captured the UFC’s “Baddest Mother F*****” (BMF) belt, was challenged by Michael Chandler to fight for the ceremonial title.
“You tell me who the BMF is right now in the UFC?” Chandler said in a recent interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “If we did a poll right now, who’s the baddest mother fudger in the UFC?
“Tell me that wouldn’t get the juices flowing of the entire mixed martial arts world,” he continued. “Michael Chandler versus Jorge Masvidal for the BMF belt. ‘The Rock’ walking in with it over his shoulder and then handing it to me 15 minutes later.”
Although Masvidal has fought three times since winning the exclusive title, the belt has only ever been on the line at UFC 244.
Masvidal captured the belt in November 2019 when he defeated Nate Diaz at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was charged with presenting “Gamebred” the belt inside the Octagon.
Masvidal Fought for the Welterweight Strap Twice Since Winning the BMF Belt, Chandler Recently Lost to Dustin Poirier
Since becoming the BMF, Masvidal has dropped three matches, losing twice to Kamaru Usman for the welterweight strap and most recently to Colby Covington via unanimous decision at UFC 272 in March.
Chandler is one of the most exciting action fighters in the promotion. He’s earned either Performance of the Night or Fight of the Night honors in four of his five UFC appearances. He competed earlier this month at UFC 281 against Dustin Poirier and although he lost the fight via third-round rear-naked choke, the match earned both men an extra $50,000.
Chandler Reflected on His Loss to Poirier, Said He Will ‘Never’ Make ‘Excuses for a Loss’
Chandler is 2-3 as a UFC athlete. He boasts knockout wins over Tony Ferguson and Dan Hooker, and has suffered defeats to Justin Gaethje via unanimous decision, Charles Oliveira via TKO and Poirier by rear-naked choke.
And in the interview, Chandler said that although he’ll never “make excuses for a loss,” he knows that if things played out slightly differently in the cage, he could have potentially beaten each lightweight.
“Man, I will never ever downplay or make excuses for a loss,” Chandler said to Okamoto. “But it seems like a recurring theme now, you know? Losing to Charles Oliveira, losing to Justin Gaethje and losing to Dustin Poirier — do I think better than those guys? I think I have proven to lose to those guys. But I do think fighting the upper echelon of guys in your weight class, in the entire world of eight billion people on the planet, and at 155 pounds, you’re fighting the who’s who — the toughest guys in the world — you’re going to take losses.
“If me and Poirier fight 10 times, do I beat him a couple times? Do I beat him the majority of the time? Do I beat him no times? I don’t know. Same thing with Gaethje, same thing with Oliveira. You don’t really know. But I do you know you’re within a gnat’s eyelash of winning these fights in certain exchanges. Or if a fight goes a different way or if one position goes a different way.”