3 Piece With The Soda - Episode 001 3 Piece With The Soda

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Episode 001 - Jorge "Gamebred" Masvidal

Welcome to Three Piece With The Soda, Mixed Martial Arts opinion and commentary presented to you in 3 quick shots and 1 longer, more substantial serving. I'm your host, Max Respect.


It's only fitting to launch this podcast with the man who created the stunning media moment to which we owe our name, Jorge "Gamebred" Masvidal


JAB: Jorge Masvidal is one of the legends of the second wave of Mixed Martial Artists, and it's impressive that he is still competing and performing at such an elite level. Masvidal has been fighting MMA for so long that his record boasts three fights in the Bodog promotion. To give you an idea of how much the game has evolved in that time frame, in the Bodog days Chael Sonnen had not yet been convicted of money laundering, had not yet been popped for performance enhancing drugs, and was using not-so-subtle homophobic insinuations to disparage jiu-jitsu players. Fast forward to 2019 and Chael, the eternal shameless hypocrit, now holds a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu blackbelt and has founded his own submission grappling promotion. THAT's how long Jorge Masvidal has been competing professionally as a Mixed Martial Artist.

HOOK: Leon Edwards, of course Masvidal is not going to fight you. Why would he fight so far down the rankings when he just knocked out Darrent Till and TKO'd YOU in the same night? Gamebred needs a challenge. YOU're the one who needs the do-over. And, historically, guys with the last name Edwards don't fare too well against Masvidal.

STRAIGHT: Coming up at UFC 239 Jorge Masvidal takes on dubiously undefeated UFC newcomer Ben Askren, who is coming off a questionable and unconvincing win over beloved-but-fading journeyman Robby Lawler. Despite the flukey nature of Askren's win over Lawler, this is in no way a safe fight for Masvidal. At a quick glance this looks like the UFC trying to feed Askren another stylistic-matchup slam-dunk like Lawler was supposed to be. But despite his love of throwing hands and gangster fight ethic, Masvidal is far from being the undisciplined brawler that is Lawler. In barely more than a minute Askren was badly beaten, bloodied, and damn-near finished by Lawler. Masvidal is a far more prolific and technical striker who hasn't been finished in over a decade. Considering Askren was BARELY able to survive against Lawler, early betting lines showing Funky as the favorite are unconvincing. Masvidal has the tools, the patience, and the experience to be the first to wipe that goofy lop-sided smirk off the face of Askren, and in so doing he would bag an impressive win that would carry a lot of cache in the current welterweight ecosystem.

Haterade: There are three types of people who compete in a cage for a living: athletes, martial artists, and fighters. While Jorge Masvidal has all the attributes of a top-tier athlete, as well as the skills and discipline of a martial artist, "Fighter" is the term that truly defines his mindset and philosophy.

If Kimbo Slice's Street Fights could be considered a farm league for professional Mixed Martial Artists, Masvidal would be the all time top prospect. And when you come up facing off one-on-one against another man in a backyard with no gloves, no medical personal, and no governing body, you simply have a different frame of mind.

Watch the Edwards video again. Tactically, as a martial artist, Masvidal makes a terrible choice stepping up to Edwards' entire entourage solo. As an athlete it's an equally poor strategic choice, brawling bakestage bare-knuckle immediately after a fight from which he emerged largely, but not entirely, unscathed. As a Fighter, however, he took the only path that was true to his heart. Masvidal has stated publicly over and over that he is not about the drama and the manufactured hype that the UFC and its more notorious primadonnas use to promote fights. For Jorge, this is 100% real. So if you get in his face and talk(continued)