JORGE Masvidal claimed that the “diva” and “coward” Conor McGregor would be “playing with his life” by accepting a fight against him.
The two were previously linked to what had the potential to be a blockbuster UFC pay-per-view grudge match.
But Masvidal, 39, insists McGregor, 35, wouldn’t take the fight then and won’t do so now.
“This fight has the potential to break all kinds of pay-per-view records and be massive,” he said.
“But Conor wouldn’t take this fight until he had extra bitch mode and extra diva mode.”
McGregor was expected to return in a welterweight bout against Michael Chandler, 38, at UFC 303.
It would have been his first fight in three years, his last fight of 2021 against Masvidal’s training partner Dustin Poirier, 35.
But McGregor – for the first time in his UFC career – was forced to withdraw after suffering a toe injury.
“How many times did he give up the fight?” Masvidal asked.
“How many times has this fight been rescheduled for one reason or another?
“This isn’t the first time this fight has fallen apart, I think it’s the second or third time.
“So this is the guy he’s convinced he could beat. You can’t get him the ring.
“For a guy like me, he really has a legitimate fear deep down, for my style, for the way I fight, for what I did to Nate (Diaz), for what I did to the opponents he fought. too, but it wasn’t exactly his way.
“He knows I have something special and that’s the damn power and he knows I’m going to beat the hell out of him standing up.
“This will destroy his brand. I’m not going to take him down and hold him down and he’ll be able to say, ‘Oh, if it had been a stand-up fight…’
“No, no, no, I’m going to hit it, hit you in the face, put pressure on you and break you and make you give up, similar to how DP did your ass and he doesn’t need that for your ass again and your mark.
“That’s why you’ll see he never mentions my name or anything like that.
“We’re the biggest fight they could have had because he knows it’s just a bad day for him at the office.”
Masvidal now returns on Saturday to rematch Diaz, 39, in the boxing ring, five years after his UFC stoppage win.
Meanwhile, McGregor tries to reschedule his expected return as Masvidal fires off yet another brutal dig.
“Would I want this fight? Yeah, I wouldn’t mind, I just wouldn’t hold my breath,” he said.
“Because this coward, if they can’t even get him to fight Chandler with his fucking fractured pinky nail, do you think he’s going to fight me? Not a chance.
“And he’s convinced he could beat Chandler, he knows, he knows if he gets in there with me, man, he’s playing with his fucking life, you know.”
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