Getty Jorge Masvidal & Darren Till
Welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal should be the “poster boy” of a UFC 165-pound division, Megan Anderson recently said.
Anderson (11-5 MMA) is the former Invicta featherweight champion who boasts wins over notable names like Cat Zingano and Norma Dumont. In her last fight, she competed for Amanda Nunes’ UFC 145-pound belt, and lost to the Brazilian via first-round submission at UFC 259 in March 2021.
Although she is not officially retired from the sport, the Australian has stepped away from fighting and is currently focused on other ventures, including her “Megan’s Corner” segment on Sports Center Australia.
And during it, she recently pitched the idea of “Gamebred” helping usher in the 165-pound weight class. For years, many in the MMA community have called on the UFC to introduce a division between lightweight and welterweight.
Although UFC president Dana White has shut down these talks at every junction, Masvidal is one of MMA’s biggest superstars, and he would be the “perfect person” to “kickstart” the new weight class, Anderson said.
“One thing that I think is really pertinent to Jorge Masvidal is he could be the ‘poster boy’ for the 165lbs division,” Anderson said via BJPenn.com. “I think, personally I think he’s too small for the welterweight division but he is too big for the lightweight division. There is a fifteen-pound gap (between divisions), it is huge, and I think that he would be the perfect person to really kickoff that new division that I know a lot of the guys want.”
Masvidal Plans on Working on His Wrestling With Penn State Athletes
Gamebred is 0-3 in his last three UFC bouts, which includes two straight defeats to welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, as well as his most recent defeat to Colby Covington. Masvidal dropped those fights in large part due to the disparity between his wrestling skill and theirs.
Well, Masvidal told Logan Paul during a recent episode of the “IMPAULSIVE” podcast that he’s going to enlist the help of his Penn State wrestling friends to help improve his game. And he will take the necessary time to become a more complete martial artist.
“The best program in the country currently, for the last 10 years, is Penn State,” Masvidal said MMA Fighting. “I’ve got some good friends over there, so I’m gonna go spend some time in Pennsylvania, wrestle in the morning, wrestle at night, wrestle in the morning, wrestle at night, and stay doing that, because I don’t feel like I have to work on my boxing — not to be cocky — or my kicking. It’s there any time. I’ve just got to sharpen it up before fights. So one of my main plans right now is go wrestle day and night and see what comes out of it.
“Then come back to the sport of MMA and see where I’m at. I don’t know how long that journey’s gonna take me. I don’t know if I’m gonna go there six months or six weeks until I get that breakthrough, but I know it will come from just being in there.”
Anderson Wouldn’t ‘Be Surprised’ if Masvidal Returns to the UFC as a ‘Better Fighter’
One person who is on board with Masvidal’s plan is Anderson, and she’s excited to see him compete against some of welterweight’s best when he comes back.
“Masvidal is a guy that he’s not going let the same mistake happen twice,” Anderson said during the same ‘Megan’s Corner’ segment via BJPenn.com. “You know, I won’t be surprised if he goes away and does what he says he is going to do and comes back as a better fighter. Now, as in who’s next, he has only fought two people.. No, three, including the champion, in the top-15. He hasn’t fought anyone.
“He’s fought Stephen Thompson, Colby Covington and he’s fought Kamaru Usman who is the champion. There are so many fights for him to make, Belal Muhammad, Vicente Luque. He has so much potential in this division and stardom to continue with all of the fights that could be made. As we have seen he is a huge draw.”