LAS VEGAS –– Jorge Masvidal has by and large stayed away from the media leading up to his UFC 239 clash with Ben Askren.
At Wednesday’s open workouts for Saturday night’s card at T-Mobile Arena, Masvidal chose to keep it that way. But he did answer questions from an excited crowd of fans. While he made it clear he didn’t want to answer questions from the press, the fan-favorite welterweight opened up for questions from the audience.
From the opening question, Masvidal made it clear he’s not a fan of his opponent Ben Askren. Masvidal stated he hopes to inflict extra punishment on Askren.
“We’re going to do it painfully and brutally,” Masvidal said. “I don’t like this dude as everybody knows. It’s going to brutal. It’s going to be painful.”
He later added, “I want to punish him man. So, if it’s up to me, third round, man. I want to punish this dude. I want to punish his ass.”
When asked what he felt he had to prove after his last fight, Masvidal said, “This is different. Darren Till woke up eventually. I don’t know if (Ben) is going to wake up.”
One fan asked Masvidal which “combo” he would be delivering to Askren – a reference to Masvidal’s signature catch phrase he coined after UFC London.
“I’m going to give him options,” Masvidal said. “He’s got all the way from a three piece and a soda to the family pack with a two-liter soda. He can pick out what he wants.”
Masvidal made sure to take a jab at Askren’s wrestling-heavy fighting style, “He’s going to try to put his face in my crotch. We got something that’s not usually listed when you pull up to the drive through. It’s going be on the special (menu) for his ass. He’s going to find out July 6 though.”
“Gamebred” has won four of his last six appearances, but has also dropped two out of his last three in that span. After back-to-back decision losses, Masvidal punched his ticket back to the win column with a devastating knockout of Darren Till at UFC London in March.
UFC 239’s main card will stream live on pay-per-view with the prelims taking place on ESPN and ESPN+ respectively.
For more on UFC 239, check out the UFC schedule.
