"At some point in this fight Masvidal is on top, postures up and takes his eyes off Berger starts having a conversation with the ringside girl whilst punching the UFC veteran in his face," Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. "You've got Masvidal who's a boy and Berger who's a rough guy, so Masvidal comes to the ring and starts yelling at Berger from down on the floor,' he said. He would go on to compete for the historic Bodog promotion which produced several other UFC veterans such as Chael Sonnen, Steve Berger and Eddie Alvarez.Īnd Sonnen explained why he knew Masvidal would be a star after his Bodog fight with Berger.
Kimbo slice back yard fights professional#
Masvidal turned professional almost two decades ago, first competing for Florida-based promotion Absolute Fighting Championships where he would go on to win the welterweight title. 'Ray' outweighed Masvidal, who was nicknamed 'Ponytail' at the time, by a considerable amount but it wouldn't matter as he won the fight and their eventual Early days in MMA The pair trained at the same gym which led to Masvidal being offered fights in Slice's backyard, one of which was against his 200lb protege 'Ray'. His reputation as a backyard brawler would be bolstered when he met famous street fighter Kimbo Slice, who later fought for the UFC. The only money Masvidal would earn from winning his backyard brawls would be what he could put together with his friends to bet on himself, which was sometimes as little as $40. Moving from neighbourhood to neighbourhood in his native Miami, he would challenge anyone who claimed they could beat him. Masvidal has always credited fighting with keeping him away from a life of crime. In the most personal fight of his lengthy UFC career, Masvidal faces former friend turned bitter rival Colby Covington in one of the biggest grudge matches in promotional history.Īnd so before his fight with bitter rival Covington, we take a look at the story of Masvidal's fighting career. Masvidal broke away from his journeymen status in the welterweight division after scoring a trio of knockout wins that made him one of the promotion’s biggest stars. Long before the self-proclaimed ‘King of Miami’ was crowned the UFC’s ‘baddest mother******’, he was scrapping in back gardens and willing to fight in any MMA promotion for free. The MMA veteran is 50 fights deep into his professional career heading into tonight's UFC 272 grudge match with former teammate Colby Covington. The winner will be dubbed the “BMF” – “Baddest Mother(Expletive)” – something that Masvidal certainly has that old South Florida brawling experience with.Ĭheck out the video above to hear more from “Baby Slice” on Masvidal ahead of UFC 244.Few fighters will go through the struggles Jorge Masvidal has been through to make it to the top. The welterweight fight isn’t for a UFC title, but a special belt was created just for the event. On Saturday, Masvidal (34-13 MMA, 11-6 UFC) might have some of those old street fights in the corner of his mind when he takes on Nate Diaz (20-11 MMA, 15-9 UFC) in the UFC 244 main event at Madison Square Garden in New York. But I would’ve loved to do a bare-knuckle fight – that would’ve been pretty cool.” “I was watching it like, ‘My turn – when can I fight?’ But my dad always told me not to do a street fight.
Instead, Kimbo told him if he was going to fight, make sure he got paid.
No adults tried to steer him away from it, necessarily. He was on it from start to finish, and he won that fight.”įerguson said when he was 9 and 10 years old, watching grown men fight in his backyard, he had no fear. “It was right after my dad fought the Cuban boxer. “I remember watching him fight – he fought our guy Ray,” Ferguson told MMA Junkie this past week ahead of his Bellator 232 fight. “Ponytail,” as he was called, famously fought Kimbo Slice’s protege, “Ray,” in a brutal rematch until Ray could take no more. The viral videos made his dad a streetfighting legend well before he became an MMA fighter.Īnd while many of the fighters that rolled through only were local legends, another went on to become one of the most respected fighters in MMA.Ī young Masvidal was one of the men who fought in Slice’s backyard. was just a kid when he first was around Jorge Masvidal.īack then, “Baby Slice” stood on the sidelines in his Miami backyard while his dad, Kimbo Slice, threw down with any number of opponents.
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