Jorge Masvidal’s longstanding problems with former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping are now over.
Fresh off the fastest knockout in UFC history following his flying knee on Ben Askren, Masvidal appeared on the
It appeared the beef started when Bisping ripped up a Cuba flag while Yoel Romero was competing against Robert Whittaker at UFC 213 two years ago. Masvidal, whose father is Cuban, and is also a teammate and friend to Romero, naturally took offense.
No disrespect to all of the English but @bisping is a bitch #easymoney https://t.co/S2DKTJmnJb
— BMF.eth (@GamebredFighter) July 8, 2017
They then confronted each other in a heated altercation leading up to UFC 217 in New York a couple of months later.
There were multiple other confrontations between the pair that followed, including one in China, right after Bisping was knocked out by Kelvin Gastelum. Leading up to his UFC London fight with Darren Till, Masvidal revealed in a previous incident that Bisping was talking smack to him in front of his family. Bisping, meanwhile, would deny this.
Regardless of who was telling the truth, it was clear they did not like each other. But for Bisping’s part, he did hope to end the beef should he have crossed paths with “Gamebred” during UFC London.
And that seems to be the case as Masvidal explained how Bisping, now retired and inducted into the Hall of Fame, earned his respect.
“Right before my fight with Till, if Bisping wanted to be an asshole, he could have,” Masvidal said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “It was right before my fight. And he wasn’t. He was anything but. And that showed me so much fucking respect and class from him. We hadn’t really ever seen each other. So he’s just seen me, he looked at me, shook his head and put his hand down. I forgot what he said. ‘Good luck’ or ‘good day,’ something like that.
“I just thought it was cool that he wasn’t a dick when he knew I had a fight coming up. He could have tried to fuck with me, throw me off my zone. Which wouldn’t have worked but you know, there’s a lot of assholes like that. And it was just cool that he didn’t. So after that, I was like ‘man, this is bullshit. Let’s just put it in the past.’ You know?”
Of course, Masvidal’s problems with Askren don’t seem like ending anytime soon.