This past April, Jorge Masvidal rematched Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title at UFC 261 and ended up on the wrong side of a Knockout of the Year contender. Since then, Masvidal has spent most of his time working on other endeavors, including launching his own bare-knuckle MMA promotion, Gamebred FC. Now Masvidal is ready to get back after it and he has a number of names on his hit list, including the most popular callouts in MMA right now, Logan and Jake Paul.

“I’m gonna beat up all the Pauls,” Masvidal told ESPN. “If they put money in my pocket, that Logan Paul dude, Jake Paul, whoever Paul dudes — if they put money in my pocket, of course I’d like to break some Disney characters’ faces. I’ve been fighting men who have been training since 7, 8 years old to do the same thing to me what I want to do to them. Fighting guys like [the Pauls] is a bonus, man.”

Masvidal has had an up-and-down relationship with the Paul brothers. When Jake Paul fought Masvidal’s rival Ben Askren back in April, Masvidal reached out with words of advice, but afterwards, their relationship turned contentious and the two began trading barbs on social media leading up to Paul’s match with Tyron Woodley in August. Now, Masvidal is evidently angling to get a crack at Paul, however, he’s currently still under contract with the UFC and so any such fight would have to be cleared by Dana White. It’s an unlikely scenario, but one Masvidal believes could happen.

“UFC would have to sign off, but nothing is impossible,” Masvidal said. “Dana doesn’t like those guys and Dana knows I’ll go in there and put a hurting on those kids. Maybe he does send in the f*cking assassin.”

A much more likely possibility though would be a matchup against the old brother of another former foe of Masvidal’s, Nick Diaz. Diaz is a cult hero in the MMA community and after taking a 6 1/2-year hiatus from fighting, the elder Diaz brother is set to make his return later this month at UFC 266 when he takes on former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler. Diaz was the Strikeforce welterweight champion back when Masvidal challenged for the Strikeforce lightweight title in 2011 (losing to Diaz’s teammate Gilbert Melendez), and if Stockton’s finest has a good performance against Lawler, Masvidal says that would be a great fight for him to come back to.

“If Nick looks good and does his job, why not me and Nick?” Masvidal said. “I’d love to fight Nick. It’s a classic fight. It’s a fight that I always wanted to do since I was at Strikeforce at 155 [pounds] and he was at 170. I was like, ‘Man, that’s a dude I would like to fight.’ Nothing personal, just because of his style. The way that he leaves it all out there. If I get a fight with Nick, it’ll be a blessing.”

Masvidal, of course, defeated Nick’s younger brother Nate Diaz to claim the “BMF” title last year. Masvidal also told ESPN he would be interested in a rematch with Nate Diaz if that’s what the fans wanted however, his ultimate goal is to make his way back to the real belt, the UFC welterweight title and so if, neither the Diaz brothers nor the Paul brothers are available to him, he’ll settle for whoever is going to get him back to a title shot the fastest.

“Ideal scenario — I walk into the office and they go, ‘This individual can get you closer to the title than any other individual,’” Masvidal said. “And I go, ‘Give me that individual.’ And they offer it to me with a lot of money behind it. All these guys are corny. I don’t give a f--- about them. I want to go for the title again. Whatever it takes to get to that title — whatever opponent, whatever threat, challenge. Whatever they want to come up for me to deal with it, I’m there to do it.”

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TOP STORIES

Results. Derek Brunson, Tom Aspinall, and Paddy Pimblett all won big at UFC Vegas 36.

Call out. Derek Brunson calls out Israel Adesanya after tapping Darren Till with at UFC Vegas 36.

Protocols. UFC 267 in Abu Dhabi requires all attendees to be vaccinated with 30 percent capacity expected

Weird. ONE Championship to review Seo Hee Ham vs. Denice Zamboanga split verdict.

Pivot. Oscar De La Hoya out of Vitor Belfort fight due to COVID-19, Evander Holyfield steps in.

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VIDEO STEW

UFC Vegas 36 Post Show.

MMA Hour Week 3 Highlights.

Contender Series Week 1 Highlights.

Bellator headkick KOs.

Alexander Volkanovski training camp. This looks exhausting.

Tom Aspinall discusses the heavyweight division, over beer pong.

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LISTEN UP

On to the Next One. Matchmaking following UFC Vegas 36.

Fights Gone By. Recapping the action from UFC Vegas 36.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Derek Brunson.

Shade.

Generous offer.

Comeback trail.

Khalil Rountree.

Good man.

Molly McCann.

Trolling.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Josh Quinlan (5-0) vs. Logan Urban (5-1); Contender Series, Sep. 7.

Shane Burgos (13-3) vs. Billy Quarantillo (16-3); UFC 268, Nov. 6.

Alex Pereira (3-1) vs. Andreas Michailidis (13-4); UFC 268, Nov. 6.

Jimmy Crute (12-2) vs. Jamahal Hill (8-1, 1 NC); UFC Fight Night, Dec. 4.

Randy Costa (6-2) vs. Tony Kelley (7-2); UFC 269, Dec. 11.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Derek Brunson deserves a chance to fight for the title. Yes, Israel Adesanya (or Robert Whittaker) will almost certainly demolish him but it doesn’t matter. He’s put the wins together when no one else has and that’s how champions build legacy’s that matter, by beating guys like Derek Brunson.

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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