Jorge Masvidal is coming off back-to-back losses and currently sits at No. 11 in the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight rankings. His UFC Fight Night 147 opponent Darren Till, on the other hand, has just lost a title bid and fills the third spot.
Between all the statistics, an exciting race to the top arises, and this weekend’s headliner can’t be any more pivotal. Expect the smaller but more experienced Masvidal to go all out in this battle of two high-level strikers. Learn more about him through the following numbers:
1: Professional boxing match. Masvidal’s first and only venture into pro boxing happened on June 8, 2005 at the Radisson Mart Plaza in Miami, Florida. Training under Eric Cantanos, he defeated Joseph Benjamin by majority decision after four rounds.
5: Wins to start his professional MMA career, including victories over future UFC fighters Roli Delgado and Brian Geraghty. All five were under the Absolute Fighting Championships banner, where he ultimately went 8-1.
2: Rounds with Joe Lauzon at AFC 12. Masvidal caught Lauzon with a string of punches in round 2, effectively ending the fight at 3:57.
3: Wins without a loss at BodogFight, defeating Keith Wisniewski and Steve Berger. In his third bout, he was matched up with UFC and World Extreme Cagefighting veteran Yves Edwards. Masvidal won by head kick knockout in the second round.
6: Fights in Strikeforce, with a record of 5-1. After going 4-0, Masvidal engaged in a title eliminator with former EliteXC lightweight champion K.J. Noons and handily won by unanimous decision. He then challenged Gilbert Melendez for the Strikeforce lightweight title and lost a five-round war.
3: Fights in Bellator MMA and went 2-1. He stopped Nick Agallar and Eric Reynolds but was submitted by Toby Imada in the Bellator Season 1 lightweight tournament semifinals.
15: UFC fights. Masvidal holds a record of 9-6, with notable victories over Michael Chiesa, Jake Ellenberger and Donald Cerrone. His defeats came at the hands of Rustam Khabilov, Al Iaquinta, Benson Henderson, Lorenz Larkin, Demian Maia and Stephen Thompson.
113: Significant strikes were his most in a single UFC fight. Masvidal met Ross Pearson in a one-sided affair at UFC 201. The Brit could only land 52 significant strikes.
3: Post-fight bonuses pursed. He has so far won two Performance of the Night honors for his stoppages of Ferreira and Cerrone. In addition, he has been given a Fight of the Night award with Khabilov, albeit in a losing cause.
13: Wins by KO or TKO. His victims include Brandon Bledsoe, Rolando Delgado, Joe Lauzon, David Gardner, Yves Edwards, Matt Lee, Brant Rose, Ryan Schultz, Nick Agallar, Satoru Kitaoka, Cezar Ferreira, Jake Ellenberger and Donald Cerrone.
2: Wins by submission. Masvidal is known primarily for his fluid boxing but he does have some decent submissions in his arsenal. After all, he did well in various submission grappling tournaments, including NAGA. His two submission victories in MMA came at the expense of Eric Reynolds and Michael Chiesa.