Jorge Masvidal retires following loss at UFC 287
After being defeated by Gilbert Burns, Jorge Masvidal hangs up the gloves in his hometown of Miami at UFC 287.
After 52 professional MMA bouts and 20 years in the sport (10 of which were in the UFC), Jorge Masvidal has called it a day on his MMA career.
Masvidal laid the gloves down in the Octagon and announced retirement following his loss to Gilbert Burns in the co-main event of UFC 287. The event took place in Masvidal's home of Miami, FL.
"I love everybody here. Thank you for watching. This is where I started my career. It's been a long 20 years, 50+ fights." "Sometimes your favorite basketball player can't hit that 3-pointer anymore. Sometimes your favorite quarterback loses his rifle.
"I love everybody. I love this f***** sport...I didn't have s*** when I started. This sport gave me everything."
After a storied career in the fight game, @GamebredFighter is calling it a career
— UFC (@ufc) April 9, 2023
THANK YOU JORGE 🙌 #UFC289 pic.twitter.com/XrpDQiTEpl
Jorge Masvidal retires: A look back on his career
Though it's known that Masvidal's origins come from street brawling, he officially made his professional MMA debut in 2003 with Absolute Fighting Championships, going on to wins its welterweight championship.
Between 2006 and 2010, Masvidal bounced around several MMA promotions including Strikeforce, Bellator, BodogFIGHT and World Victory Road. He competed in four Strikeforce bouts between 2011 and 2012, going 3-1, with his sole loss coming in an unsuccessful challenge of lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez.
After Strikeforce folded for good in 2013, Masvidal went over to the UFC, successfully debuting with a decision win over Tim Means at UFC on FOX 7. Masvidal won six of his first eight Octagon bouts, including wins over Michael Chiesa, Daron Cruickshank, James Krause and Cezar Ferreira.
Masvidal dropped back-to-back split decisions to Benson Henderson and Lorenz Larkin but bounced back with three more consecutive wins, earning a decision over Ross Pearson and finishes of Jake Ellenberger and Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. Masvidal, however, then dropped a decision to Demian Maia in a welterweight title eliminator at UFC 211, as well as a decision to Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson at UFC 217.
After taking 2018 off, Masvidal had the surge of his life in 2019. It started with an upset knockout of Darren Till at UFC London in March. That win essentially earned him a fight with Ben Askren at UFC 239 that July. All that has to be said about that fight is "five seconds." Then, Masvidal stopped Nate Diaz at UFC 244 and was awarded the 'BMF' championship.
This led to a pair of title opportunities for Masvidal, with the first coming on short notice against Kamaru Usman at UFC 251, losing by decision. Masvidal was then booked for a rematch (and not as a fill-in) for UFC 261, which ended with Masvidal getting knocked out.
Masvidal, in his most recent bout prior to tonight, then dropped a decision to Colby Covington at UFC 272.
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