UFC 287: Jorge Masvidal looking to recapture 2019 magic after 'downward spiral' took him to a 'dark place'

Masvidal says he has had to deal with toxicity both in and out of competition over the last few years

Jorge Masvidal's meteoric rise from middling veteran to must-see superstar in 2019 is among the best one-year runs in mixed martial arts history. Masvidal knocked out three opponents in nine months, including the fastest recorded KO in UFC history, culminating in his crowning as MMA's "baddest motherf---er" in the main event of Madison Square Garden. The occasion was even complimented with a ceremonial belt wrapped around his waist by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Masvidal's fall from grace was almost as steep. "Gamebred" sprinted to the welterweight title picture after his finish of Nate Diaz, but the the Miami native could not maintain his momentum. Masvidal tolerated a short-notice decision loss to now former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. The outcome of their rematch was completely unpalatable. Usman planted a thunderous right hand on Masvidal and followed with ground-and-pound. It was the first time someone separated Masvidal from consciousness in 50 professional fights. The spiritual awakening that reinvigorated Masvidal in 2019 had quickly evaporated.

"It actually turned into a very hard downward spiral for me," Masvidal told CBS Sports ahead of his fight against Gilbert Burns at UFC 287 on Saturday. "I fought Kamaru Usman nine months before that. I felt his best shots after having cut 20 pounds. I flew all the way to Abu Dhabi. I was like, 'This guy never f---ing hurt me.' He's just not born with that. And lo and behold, nine months later, he has unreal, unnatural power. Power is not something in the punching department that comes overnight. So this is just very, very surreal... If I never fought Usman and then I got clipped by him, it'd be different. I'd be like, 'Oh, you know, I didn't really fully understand his power.' But after having five rounds with them, I just didn't think he could ever be the guy to knock me out.

"If you look at my record since I started in MMA, I've faced some killers in the stand-up department. I've faced some real badasses in stand-up that made a living off stand-up before they got into MMA. They were in either kickboxing or some form of combat that was more standard than anything. So I just never in a million years would have thought this guy would have done it. So it sent me into a very dark place. But like a lot of times when we're going to these dark places, you either don't come out or you come out something more powerful, something bigger, better, stronger and unbreakable. So it took me a while. If eight months ago I would have been talking, I would have been a completely different person."

Check out the full interview with Jorge Masvidal below.

Masvidal tried to heal his wounds by striking close friend-turned-bitter rival Colby Covington, but looked lifeless in a one-sided decision loss. Three up and three down. The triad of violence that Masvidal delivered in 2019 was almost entirely erased by a trio of listless efforts against the welterweight elite. Masvidal was already shaking under the mounting pressure of his career shortcomings. He crumbled from the added weight of legal repercussions stemming from his alleged assault of Covington in March 2022.

"I had a lot of things outside of my hands that I couldn't control. I got three felonies. I got three lawsuits. I got also three losses in a row. So I just knew a lot of things had to change," Masvidal said. "I had to give my mind, my body, my spirit and my soul in the right place. I feel like I'm in the right place now. So come April 8th, I just want to treat everybody to the violence that they're used to getting from me. Give it all I got in, end Gilbert and keep it moving.

"I gained a tremendous amount of weight. There were numerous things going on in my life that just were toxic for an athlete. They weren't helpful. They were detrimental to a certain extent. I feel like I cut a lot of that out in the last eight or nine months. I'm in a much better place."

Masvidal returns to competition following a 13-month absence against Burns in the co-main event of UFC 287. It's the longest layoff he's had since the break preceding his 2019 rise to fame. Much like his last comeback, Masvidal's underlying battle is with himself. It's more imperative than ever that he executes on fight night on the heels of his first losing streak as the word "retirement" rattles in his head.

"Long before the fight with Gilbert got signed, I was already preparing for somebody. Who? What? I didn't know, but I was just preparing, getting myself in shape and when the Gilbert fight came, it was like the jet was already charged with all the fuel I was going to need," Masvidal said. This was one of the better camps out of my whole career. I've always been a guy that's very critical of myself. How many times did I get taken down in practice? How many times did I get taken down throughout the week? How many body shots did I land? All these things. I truly feel that this has been one of my better training camps, period. On a physical level and on a technical level.

"So now, just go out and have fun. Forget about everything, just blank my mind out and do what I wanted to do since a kid. It's crazy."

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