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It seems almost like a lifetime ago when Jorge Masvidal got involved in a backstage fight with Leon Edwards that resulted a catchphrase that just became part of the MMA vernacular afterwards.
“I gave him the three-piece with the soda”
That was Masvidal’s way of telling the story about popping Edwards with a couple of punches after the fighters came face-to-face following a UFC event in London back in 2019. Given the bad blood between them, it seemed like Masvidal and Edwards would eventually settle their grievances in the octagon but somehow the UFC never pulled the trigger on the matchup.
Despite that incident happening over five years ago, Masvidal and Edwards still get asked about it to this day because the rivalry between them born that day never got settled.
For his part, Masvidal claims he accepted a fight against Edwards, but the future UFC champion declined so the matchup never came together.
“I know he wouldn’t fight me,” Masvidal told MMA Fighting. “He got offered and turned it down. He don’t want this.”
“I tried [to fight him]. Leon Edwards don’t want this. He had other options, he went for other things except fight me, basically. I’ll tell you that much.”
Could that potentially change now that Masvidal is planning a comeback to the UFC and Edwards needs an opponent after losing the welterweight title to Belal Muhammad in July?
Masvidal isn’t opposed to the idea because he knows there’s still some unfinished business there and the disdain shared between them didn’t just disappear.
While nothing has been decided yet about his comeback fight, Masvidal welcomed the chance to face Edwards, and he’s throwing down the gauntlet to meet sooner rather than later.
“I’ll tell you right now, Leon, I will whoop your f*cking ass,” Masvidal said. “Let’s f*cking go. I don’t know maybe Dec. 7 in Vegas, maybe next year at the Super Bowl. I don’t know but I’ll beat the f*ck out of your little skinny ass.”
Of course, Edwards hasn’t fought since falling to Muhammad in July, although he’s hinted at a potential return before the end of the year.
While he didn’t have any skin in the game during that welterweight title fight, Masvidal confessed that he was incredibly impressed by Muhammad, who effectively shut down Edwards for the majority of the five-round fight.
Muhammad has now gone undefeated in 11 consecutive fights and Masvidal had nothing but praise for the new UFC welterweight champion.
“For starters, Belal has [improved] so much since I first saw him,” Masvidal said. “I saw him fight live before in the UFC and it’s like he’s not the best athlete, he doesn’t have the craziest skill set. But slowly but surely, this guy just got better and better and better. There’s a lot of times where I was like he’s not beating that guy. Wrong! He beat the f*ck out of that guy. He did that multiple times.
“Now to see him as the champion, I think he’s one of the guys that’s improved drastically the most. Truly amazing. Great journey.”