Dustin Poirier: Jorge Masvidal “Isn’t Coming Off The Couch” For UFC 251

Since Jorge Masvidal agreed to fight Kamaru Usman on approximately a week’s notice, the consensus is that ‘Gamebred’ will be at a big disadvantage, when it comes to the cardio department.

But, according to his longtime teammate and training partner, Dustin Poirier, Masvidal has been busy, training for weeks.

Poirier says Masvidal isn’t “coming off the couch”

For much of 2020, the expectation was that Masvidal was going to fight Usman next. But, when the UFC tried booking the bout for July, a contractual dispute between ‘Gamebred’ and the promotion erupted, and Gilbert Burns was awarded a title shot.

So, since it was confirmed that Masvidal was stepping in for Burns just last week (as ‘Durinho’ tested positive for COVID-19), the consensus has been he’ll be in tough if the fight lasts a while. But, while talking to boxing trainer, Teddy Atlas recently, Poirier claimed that Masvidal’s been training for a while (quotes via MMA Junkie).

“It’s a short notice, because he didn’t have the contract signed, but let me tell you what: This guy was there my whole training camp,” Poirier said.”

“He was my main sparring partner. We probably put in five weeks of sparring together. He flew in wrestlers, the best wrestlers in the world.”

“The guy never stopped training,” Poirier said. “Even when the fight fell through, and they gave it to Burns, it was at the end of training camp, Jorge was still in the gym every day like he had a fight.

I don’t know if he knew something that we didn’t, but the guy was in training camp the whole time and never stopped.

“I think he’s gonna surprise a lot of people with the kind of shape he’s in. His timing is gonna be good.

He was in my camp the whole time helping a few guys, not just me. He’s in fight shape, I know that much.

This isn’t a guy coming off the couch. This is a guy who’s been preparing to fight Usman, and the fight fell through, and he kept training.”