Jorge Masvidal has been pushing for a bout with Conor McGregor for sometime now, and previously, he said he would rather fight the star than Kamaru Usman next. Well, as the welterweights continue to verbally spar through the media, the champ has accused “Gamebred” of ducking him.

Usman takes another poke at Masvidal

On account of Masvidal’s big 2019 campaign, which saw him defeat Darren Till, Ben Askren and Nate Diaz, the consensus is that he’s next in line for a title shot. While Masvidal has said he wants to fight for the welterweight belt, prior to UFC 246, the vet also said he would rather face McGregor next.

At the time, Masvidal argued that a showdown with McGregor might not be an option moving forward. Further, “Gamebred” has repeatedly said he wants to make as much money as possible.

Well, following UFC 246, and McGregor’s win over Donald Cerrone, Usman tweeted out this:

For all you real fans out there that know what’s up @GamebredFighter is doing everything possible to avoid taking this L @danawhite has spoken so STFU and take this ass whooping like the journeyman you are and then you can go fight Conor #OnceaBumalwaysaBum

So, ya. This comment will definitely ratchet up tensions between Usman and Masvidal. More recently, “Gamebred” has said that if all things were equal, in terms of pay, he would rather fight the champ than McGregor. The reason being that things between Masvidal and Usman have gotten personal.

Now it remains to be seen how the UFC wants to proceed. McGregor has said he’s interested in fighting Masvidal, but he hasn’t really gone out of his way to call for that bout. This has some people thinking that McGregor isn’t prioritizing a fight with Masvidal. Further, after UFC 246, Dana White made it clear that he wants McGregor to fight the winner of the April 18th bout between lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson.

Timeline for Usman’s return

Usman went to war with rival Colby Covington in December, and stopped the controversial fighter in the fifth round. While talking to MMA Fighting recently, the champion provided this timeline for his next bout:

“My right hand is okay. My legs are okay. My left hand is the one that I hurt during the fight, I hurt it early on in the first round,” Usman said. “When I rewatched the fight, I heard Joe Rogan say something about it.”

“Right now we’re in the process of making sure those tendons and those ligaments are okay in that hand. Hopefully, I can get back in there by mid this year. Mid-2020.”

Will the UFC want to keep Masvidal on the sidelines, however, until mid-year? That seems kind of unlikely, if in fact, Usman is unable to fight sooner.

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