Daniel Cormier: ‘There’s more value in the Michael Chandler fight than Jorge Masvidal believes’

It’s been a good while since Jorge Masvidal stepped foot inside the Octagon.

Last competing at UFC 272 in March 2022, “Gamebred” suffered his third straight loss since becoming the first and only Baddest Motherf—ker (BMF) champion in 2019. Masvidal, 38, is never short of interesting potential opponents, but former Lightweight title challenger, Michael Chandler, recently came out of left field.

Chandler noted how a BMF clash with Masvidal would be something exciting for the fans. Masvidal, however, responded to express no interest in “killing” the “quitter.” Due to Masvidal’s current position within the Welterweight ranks, lacking direction, UFC commentator and former two-division champion, Daniel Cormier, feels the match up could be just what “Gamebred” needs.

“That’s the one thing that Masvidal has that he values like that to them,” Cormier said of the BMF belt on his YouTube channel. “So they challenge him for that belt hoping that he pays attention to it, trying to get him to bite. And he does and by responding I think he needs to recognize that there’s more value in the Chandler fight than he believes. Because it just might get him closer to what he wants and that’s another shot at the Welterweight championship.”

Two of Masvidal’s recent three losses came in undisputed Welterweight title tilts against now-former titlist, Kamaru Usman. The third saw Masvidal shut down by friend-turned-foe, Colby Covington, via unanimous decision (watch highlights).

For Chandler, he’s fresh off a tough, but thrilling, defeat against Dustin Poirier at UFC 281 this past month (Nov. 12, 2022). As random as the fight is from divisional perspectives, it’s hard to deny it wouldn’t be wild for as long as it lasted.

“He might not win all the time, but you’re guaranteed to have a fight that will be on the tip of everybody’s tongues when it’s done,” Cormier said.

“‘Gamebred’ is saying there isn’t much for him to gain in that fight because Chandler’s a small guy and if he beats him that’s what he’s supposed to do. If it’s competitive, everybody starts to question whether or not he still has it,” he continued. “I can’t say confidently that Chandler is a bigger star than Masvidal right now, but I will say Chandler has been more present recently and he’s on peoples’ minds more than Masvidal.”