Fans’ favorite Jorge Masvidal says his mixed martial arts career “won’t be complete” until he holds a world title.
The American is one of the UFC’s most popular fighters, but in 18 years as a professional, she has not won a world belt.
Saturday’s rematch with welterweight champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 261 is Masvidal’s second title shot, and the 36-year-old fears it will be his last.
“Winning this belt is one of many things on my task sheet before I close this chapter,” he told BBC Sport.
“I look at every fight as my last chance, so I’ve got to give it my all; I’ve got to push for what I want. If I want to be a world champion, then this is it; I’ve got to go.
“When I came back in 2019, I made a checklist and got many of those things done in 2019. But as far as what I [still] want to accomplish, I’m not going to say everything I have in the booklet because I want to keep everybody in suspense.”
Masvidal then capped 2019 by defeating fellow veteran Nate Diaz to become the inaugural winner of the symbolic ‘BMF’ belt and put himself in world title contention.
“When I took my hiatus [November 2017 to March 2019], I’d been in this sport a while,” he said. “I had 15 years of data compiled of what works for me. We took that, dissected it, and started moving forward with it.
“I still have the same booklet – just a little deeper, a little longer, with more detail – of things I have to do before I move onto the next phase in my life. Until I do that, I won’t be complete. I won’t be satisfied.
“In 2019, I talked with my coaches, my manager, about those goals, and they were like ‘wow, man. Pretty outlandish, but we love it, we’re going to stick behind you’.”
