Jorge Masvidal Explains Just Why He Punched Leon Edwards Backstage

Jorge Masvidal picked up one of the finest knockouts of the year when he destroyed Darren Till (watch it) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., March 16, 2019) UFC on ESPN+ 5 from the O2 Arena in London, England.

But most of the focus after his amazing performance is on his backstage brawl with rising welterweight star Leon Edwards. When ‘Rocky’ came around with some smack talk, Masvidal left an ESPN interview to confront Edwards, ultimately lighting him up with a three-punch combo. The assault left Edwards with a cut and police investigating a potential crime. Edwards finally decided not to press charges.

The fighters were escorted out of the arena and did not take part in the post-fight press conference. UFC President Dana White was angered that the promotion continues to allow altercations like this to happen.

Masvidal offered his own stance on the backstage brawl in an interview with ESPN ‘s Brett Okamoto. In it, he revealed just what was said prior to him punching Edwards. He claimed Edwards called him out for July, but he didn’t want to wait that long. He also said that Edwards perhaps was not worth a training camp (quotes from MMA Mania):

”I’m doing my interview and this hooligan comes by saying some stuff, like ‘July, get your ass kicked in July, July!’” Masvidal said. “I go ‘Maybe bro, whatever, because maybe I wanna kick your ass in April. Maybe I don’t wanna wait until July. Maybe I don’t want to fight you in a prize ring because you’re not worth the training camp, I’ll just fight you here because you’re a scrub.’ You know?”

No Messing Around

Masvidal continued on that he approached Edwards with his hands behind his back signaling he wanted no confrontation. But ‘Rocky’ approached him with his hands up, and all bets were quickly off. Former streetfighter Masvidal said that where he’s from, the person is going to punch you in the face:

”So I tell him to just say it to my face like a man,” he continued. “You’re saying it and walking away? We’re both men, and as I’m walking to him I got my hands behind my back to signal to him that I’m not looking for problems. But he put his hands up like this and he walks towards me. Well … where I’m from if you do that you’re going to punch me in the face and that’s not going to happen.”

Finally, Masvidal closed by blasting Edwards, claiming he’s a “loser.” He said he had to hit him with a ‘three piece with the soda’:

”You are what you are, you’re just a loser in life, man. You’re not going to get a hit off on me. So I had to give him the three piece with the soda and then just glide out of there, you know? And then some of his friends tried to sucker punch me, those guys did a big mistake.”