Top Jorge Masvidal fights the UFC should have made

While Holland beat Santiago Ponzinibbio via knockout in the third round on the main card, Masvidal dropped a unanimous decision to Gilbert Burns. The trash talk between these two will likely go no further, though a fight between them would have presumably been wildly entertaining.

Colby Covington II

Although these two fought a little over a year ago, the real-life beef between these two alone would have been enough to sell the fight, which likely would have done over a million pay per view buys. Covington dominated much of their UFC 272 fight, taking Masvidal to the ground and stifling his striking.

Masvidal got the better of Covington, though, outside of a Miami restaurant a few weeks after the fight — an incident he’s now facing three felonies for including aggravated battery and criminal mischief. What better way would there have been for them to settle the score than inside the octagon?

Leon Edwards

Edwards is another fighter Masvidal had a run-in with outside of the cage. After a UFC event at the O2 Arena in London (Edwards’ hometown) in 2019, Masvidal attacked the current 170-pound champion who was chirping at him backstage, leading to Masvidal’s infamous “three piece and a soda” reference.

Edwards stated last month if Masvidal got past Burns he’d relish the chance to “smack his head off.” Following back-to-back wins over former champion Kamaru Usman, Edwards is at the top of his game and though a fight against Masvidal would be compelling, it likely wouldn’t be as competitive as it would have been four years ago.

Conor McGregor

Arguably the two best trash talkers in the UFC, it’s a shame these two never got the chance to face one another. Masvidal ventured that a fight between he and McGregor would draw well over a million pay per view buys, calling the bout a promoter’s dream.

The 28-year-old Masvidal said that a potential bout against McGregor at 170 pounds would favor him because he’s “bigger, stronger and meaner”, stating he would “dismantle” the former lightweight champion. The buildup to this fight would have been legendary and the fight itself would likely have been one of the most-anticipated in recent memory.