UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman may have crossed paths with Jorge Masvidal in the past, but says he certainly wasn’t a fan.
Usman (16-1 MMA, 11-0 UFC) entered the UFC by winning Season 21 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” a different rendition of the show that pit his previous team, the Blackzilians, vs. Masvidal’s gym, American Top Team.
Although Masvidal (35-13 MMA, 12-6 UFC) was already a part of the UFC roster at that point, he did share the set with Usman on one of the episodes of “TUF Talk,” on which he recently claimed Usman had asked to take a photo with him.
But Usman is calling shenanigans, claiming Masvidal wasn’t nearly as popular as he is now.
“Back in 2015, I was on ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ (and) obviously ended up winning that season, and they would bring us out to ‘TUF Talk’ and there’s a picture of us sitting side-by-side,” Usman told ESPN. “He was on the show with me and he was just a regular .500 fighter that American Top Team just sent over there just to be a representative for their team. But he was a nobody, really – just a journeyman in the UFC. But I was the one there being interviewed, so this guy is talking about I wanted pictures and this and that from him.”
Masvidal has said on numerous occasions how he thinks Usman is fake and has changed his personality over the years, but Usman thinks it’s actually the opposite.
“The real story is, he has turned into everything that he had said that he wasn’t,” Usman said. “A real gangster don’t need to talk about what they’re going to do or what they’re capable of doing or wear pink robes on a two-seater plane in a private jet or whatever. A real gangster don’t need to talk about that.”
Usman faces Masvidal on Saturday in the main event of UFC 251 at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
