Darren Till have the roar of the crowd behind him when he takes on Jorge Masvidal at UFC London this weekend, but Masvidal doesn’t care.
As the nickname implies, ‘Gamebred’ is willing to fight anyone, just about anywhere.
Speaking to MMA Fighting’s Chuck Mindenhall ahead of Saturday’s welterweight contest against Till, Masvidal, an MMA veteran of sixteen years, said he is excited to be fighting ‘The Gorilla’ in enemy territory.
“I’ve been waiting to get back in here and kick some ass,” Masvidal said. “I asked for the toughest, best fights to my management, to my coaches. They said, ‘Maybe we’ll take one to break you in nice and easy.’ I said nah, I don’t need that — a fish doesn’t need swimming lessons to get back in the water. I don’t need no f*cking warm up. I want the biggest fight, no matter where it’s at. Some people might not like to fight Till in their comeback fight in London, but those people ain’t fighters, man.
“I like just fighting period, man, so I love it actually,” he continued. “As long as I get taken care of with basic things, like they pay for my hotel, flight, and food, you can take me to Pluto and I’m going to beat whoever the champion’s ass is over there. I just like to fight, man. The place doesn’t really bother me.”
Long before his tenure with the UFC, Masvidal was fighting on the streets of Miami alongside the late Kimbo Slice. And yet, despite his many fights on the street and in the cage, the 34-year-old feels he has at least another four years of mileage left on the clock.
“I’ve got four years of great performances left in me,” he said. “I’m not involved in too many wars, where I’m just constantly getting hit, hit, hit. And that’s not going to change either in these next four years, I’m still going to continue to be a slick fighter that likes to fight and make people miss and hit them. I think I’ve got a good four years ahead of me.
“After that, if the money’s holding in and I can’t say no to the money and it’s a lot of money, that’d be different. But I see myself at about 38, then I need to find a new roller-coaster, because this has been the funnest roller-coaster that I’ve ever ridden on, this drug called fighting.”
UFC Fight Night: Till vs. Masvidal takes place this Saturday, March 16 at the O2 Arena in London, England