Jorge Masvidal: Conor McGregor was Cheering for Nate Diaz to Win at UFC 244

It was the type of brawl that the wonderfully sadistic MMA fans wanted, though the “BMF” title fight between fan favorites Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz ended in disappointing fashion.

Masvidal (35-13) busted Diaz up on the feet with murderous punches, elbows and kicks to the face. But, as expected, Diaz never wilted under the attacks and though he was badly rocked a few times, he was starting to come on the longer the fight continued. Unfortunately for those in attendance inside Madison Square Garden and the others watching the ESPN+ pay-per-view stream at home, Diaz (20-12) suffered gruesome cuts around his right eye and the war was halted before the fourth round began.

The capacity crowd inside the world’s most iconic arena angrily booed the cageside physician’s decision to end UFC 244’s main event. People wanted to see Rounds 4 and 5 because Diaz was hurt several times, but he was also starting to back “Gamebred” up with his powerful fists. But the crowd wasn’t the only party miffed at the stoppage: Both Masvidal and Diaz were disgusted at how the battle ceased.

“For a fact, I told Nate right now, let’s run it back,” Masivdal said after the UFC’s newly-created “BMF” title belt was wrapped around his waist. “They gave me the love, I give it right back. UFC make it happen, let’s run it back.”

Masvidal hated the way his main event battle concluded because he has said on many occasions as of late that he wants to send his foes away unconscious, to leave no doubt as to who won. Though he technically stopped one of the toughest fighters to ever grace the famed Octagon, it wasn’t how he wanted to stop Diaz.

“I don’t like to leave the ring like this with my opponent conscious,” he said. “There’s only one way to do it and that’s to baptize them and I didn’t get to baptize Nate, so we’re going to run it back.

“The only strategy was to take him out,” he added. “Nate is a dog. I was sitting on that chair going into the fourth and fifth round and I was hyped, I was ready to go. I saw it in his eyes, he was ready to go for championship rounds. I’m not the doctor here, so don’t boo me. I came in here to fight and it’s not my fault that the doctor stopped it.”

UFC president Dana White already has shot down the notion of an immediate rematch between the two, so Masvidal’s main priority now is to cash in by fighting the sport’s biggest star: Conor McGregor. It’s a fight “Gamebred” has coveted for years, but the Cuban-American is doubtful it’ll ever materialize.

“[McGregor will] come back to what? Like fighting in the cage? I don’t know man,” Masvidal commented at the post-fight press conference to the assembled media. “That dude has been talking wild for a second. If he fights and gets a victory and he wants this… Some of you mother---ers are mean because you know what the f--k I’ll do to that little dude, bro. He’s a fucking midget.”

Masvidal, as expected, held nothing back when answering questions lobbed his way.

“Dana White, the president of this company, said I’m too much man for him,” he said. “I get it why people want to see him hurt for the stunts he’s been pulling, but he doesn’t want this s--t. He’s just talking so he can get his name out there. He was cheering for Nate. He wanted to run it back with Nate. You think he’s at home seeing that fight thinking, ‘I want to fight that dude.’ That dude ain’t retarded.”

Still, with McGregor on everybody’s mind and knowing how massive a fight between he and Masvidal would be, the American Top Team star believes he is wasting his breath even talking about the potential showdown.

“You see he punches old people in the face because those are fights he could win,” he said. “He don’t want this s--t. I don’t think Dana is going to promote that fight because you can’t get that guy to sign the paper.”