Although he’s not afraid to throw hands with anybody, Jorge Masvidal did have a name in mind when asked which of his opponents scared him the most.
‘Gamebred’ was in the public eye for years before he was ever considered one of the best in the world inside the cage. Throughout his entire combat sports career, accumulating over two decades of experience, one name stood out above the rest as the 40-year-old’s most feared opponent.
Jorge Masvidal has shared the octagon with some of the greats across his long journey in mixed martial arts. During a recent interview, Masvidal singled out UFC veteran Yves Edwards as the man he was most worried about fighting.
“I was worried about this guy,” Masvidal said. “Because, since I started fighting, he’s another legend. His name is Yves Edwards.”
“He was like one of the coldest motherf***ers out there, you know. He had gone 6-0 in the UFC, and the UFC said, ‘We’re not going to do a 155 division no more; we’re going to get rid of it. It’s going to be 170 lbs and up.'”
“Some of the world’s best talent on that day got cut and went all over the world. This guy was like chopping heads for a living, literally. He would rearrange eye orbitals [and] teeth.”
“He had a very mean Muay Thai clinch. He would f***ing knee you to your face [and you would] look different. This guy was known for [having] a head kick like a baseball bat.”
Jorge Masvidal later insisted that beating a fighter of Yves Edwards’ caliber showed him that he was good enough to compete against the best in the world.
“I hadn’t fought anybody in the top 50 in the world, right, because me myself, I was like ranked number 117th. This guy was either number one, two, or three in the world at the time in the whole worldwide ranking.”
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Masvidal continued.
“I wasn’t supposed to have a chance in that fight, and it was also my biggest step up. This was like my 13th pro fight, this was like his 20th, 30th pro fight.”
“There was a lot leaning towards him. And the sacrifices, the amount that I pushed through; everything that I did to get to that moment to beat that dude let me know for the rest of my life like, man, I could do this in that high level.”
Yves Edwards was a real fan-favorite during his time under the UFC banner. ‘Thugjitsu Master’ scored several memorable knockouts, but his headkick finish against Josh Thomson arguably stands out above the rest.
Listen to what Jorge Masvidal had to say about Yves Edwards below.
