Former MMA top fighter, and winner of the UFC BMF belt, has made it clear that his retirement does not mean he will never come back to another fight promotion.
Just three weeks after his retirement announcement, following a unanimous decision loss again Gilbert Burns at UFC 287, Masvidal has refused to slow down. He’s been steady at work promoting his Gamebred boxing card, as well as his Gamebred bare-knuckle MMA show next week.
Speaking of his retirement and future prospects, he gave this statement during an interview with ESPN: “As people would assume, I cried for many days after retirement. Not because I’m f****** so hurt, this and that, it’s because I love this sport. Since 11, 12 years old, this is all I did. Whether it was in a karate class then after that, I went to a kung-fu class, but I’ve been training once or twice a day every day for this. Waking up just in love with what I do and being in love with the same thing for 20 years. There’s so much love and passion in my heart.”
“I love this sport so f—ing much, bro. So, I’ll never say I’ll never come back, because I love it so much, in a moment I can have so many great memories that just fill me and will stay with me forever about this sport. So, I’ll never say I can’t come back.”
Masvidal was very open about his reasons for retiring from the sport, despite his passion for it, citing the effects of age: “I’ve been feeling from 34 [years old] to 37 that, in that department and solely in that department, my reflexes and reaction time took a big dip. It’s not where it used to be when I was 35, even. … So, it’s slightly slowed up in the smallest of ways, just a millisecond off. But that millisecond off when we’re talking about that I’m fighting snipers and f—ing sharpshooters on the other side — it counts a lot because I’m not here at some random event. I’m here fighting the world’s best every time out.”
