Taking place in Miami, Florida, will mark the 52nd professional MMA fight of the hometown boy, Jorge Masvidal. Nicknamed ‘Gamebread’ and rightfully so, Masvidal will clash with Brazillian, Gilbert Burn in a huge match-up and serve as a co-main event to the rematch between Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya.
What’s important for Masvidal is that this is a must-win fight. A loss here knocks him back massively. The aura around him leaves. He slips into a prolonged losing streak and the potential to ever compete for a UFC title again evaporates. We look at the two aspects that highlight why Masvidal needs a win at UFC 287, now more than ever.
Losing Streak
A loss at UFC 287 would mark the first time in his career that Jorge Masvidal slips to 0-4 in his most recent fights. Regardless of the UFC 287 outcome, Masvidal is enduring the longest losing streak of his career thus far, having lost his last three fights. Previously, he’s only ever lost two in a row (which has happened twice), but always bounced back in a big way.
Since his return to action with his huge knockout of Darren Till in 2019, Masvidal has been a megastar. He was always the ‘nearly’ man. He was on the cusp of a title shot a number of times before losing the vital fight, knocking him back. Following knockouts over Till and Ben Askren and a doctors stoppage over Nate Diaz, Masvidal earned himself a title shot on short notice.
He was thoroughly outworked by the former champion, Kamaru Usman on this occasion, however, he was granted an immediate rematch due to his willingness to step up and save the show on short notice last time. On this occasion, Usman left no doubt as to who was the wrecking machine. A brutal second-round knockout sent Masvidal to 0-2 in his latest two fights. Masvidal recently admitted on The Joe Rogan Experience that this knockout affected him badly.
He bounced back from this knockout and was able to regain his confidence, however, and was booked in a bitter grudge match with former teammate, best friend and cornerman, Colby Covington. Again, Masvidal was thoroughly outworked on this occasion, not being able to cope with Covington’s pace, his wrestling and his relentless nature. Scorecards of 49–46, 50–44 and 50–45 tell the story of how dominant Covington was on the night.
This loss caused lead to Masvidal falling to 0-3 in his last three bouts. He’s consequently slipped out of the main event picture, playing co-main event at UFC 287 having headlined his last four fights, all of which were PPV’s. As it stands, Masvidal is still a big name, the aura around him is still certainly there and he’s still considered a dangerous fight for anyone. Despite this, if he slips to 0-4, especially if Burns finishes Masvidal, the excitement of seeing Gamebread fight again diminishes, badly.
#1 Contender?
After Leon Edwards‘ big win at UFC 286 in his rubber match with Usman, it has fans pondering ‘What’s next?’ for Rocky as he looks to defend his welterweight crown again. Although Covington appears to be the front-runner, it’s hard to argue that he deserves the shot. He’s 2-2 in his last four fights and has already had two cracks at the title. There’s no narrative between Covington and Edwards and the fight doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Belal Muhammad deserves the shot as he’s on the longest-winning streak, has a narrative with Edwards and is beginning to become a big name in the 170lbs division.
Jorge Masvidal vs. Gilbert Burns could also serve as a #1 contender’s fight at UFC 287. Burns, with a win would progress to 3-1 in his last four and would also deserve another shot at gold. Masivdal, despite being 1-3 with a win at UFC 287, has the biggest narrative against Edwards. Masvidal, on the night that he knocked out Till, attacked Leon Edwards backstage. The two were scheduled to clash in a grudge match at UFC 269, however, Masvidal had to withdraw with an injury. The two have bitter bad blood and need to settle it.
A loss at UFC 287, however, kills any chance that the two will clash any time soon. With a win, however, Masvidal could see his narrative come to the forefront and dominate the title chat. He must win first, however.
