Before Jorge Masvidal would seize the UFC Welterweight Title... and be awarded a new
belt titled BMF for Baddest Mother In The Game...
Before Jorge Masvidal would hold the record for fastest knockout in UFC history clocking
in at just 5 seconds with a flying knee.
Before Jorge Masvidal would climb to 1 Million instagram followers following his UFC 244
victory over Nate Diaz and spend some time hanging with the rock and talking trash about
Conor McGregor.
The UFC has a new super star fighter who is both bringing in the views and taking home
the W's.
It actually makes me feel bad for Nate Diaz, he's just the guy they keep bringing out to
fight their next big star – no shade to Diaz, just saying.
We've covered a lot of rags to riches stories here on this channel but Jorge barely even
had rags – the son of a Cuban immigrant who spent much of time in the US behind prison
bars on manslaughter and drug trafficking charges.
Jorge had little face time with his old man but learned on the school yard pretty early
on that he had an innate talent for fighting.
Dedicating himself to the sport with no money in his pocket was an incredibly huge gamble.
He slept in cars, parking lots and under the gym ring for years.
Backyard brawls held by Kimbo Slice got him a reputation in Miami sating back 15 years
ago but now he's set to dominate mixed martial arts on a global scale.
What's going on guys?
It's your boy Michael McCrudden documenting the life and career of Jorge Masvidal aka
Street Jesus here for you on Before They Were Famous.
We've covered other famous fighters in the past including Kimbo Slice, Nate Diaz and
Kabib Numagomedov.
Is it time for a Conor McGreggor after they were famous?
Doesn't feel good going against my own Irish men but if you guys say so – we will have
to get done.
Sound off in the comments down below.
Smash that like button and now let's get into this video.
Jorge Masvidal was born on November 12, 1984 in Miami Florida.
He was literally bred to brawl with one uncle back in Cuba having been a security guard
for Fidel Castro and another who was part of the rebellion.
His father Jorge Masvidal Sr was a Cuban born refugee who escaped the communist country
at the age of 15 on a make shift raft.
Him and two friends thought that it would be a one day trip but found themselves lost
at sea with no fresh drinking water for three days.
Out of desperation his dad bit into a bird that landed on their paddle and drank it's
blood to quench his thirst.
After 6 days they landed on in the Virgin Islands and from there made it to
the US.
Only speaking Spanish, his dad didn't last long in school.
He started working in construction before finding himself in a California prison for
4 years on charges of Manslaughter.
Then another 18 years for drug trafficking.
Before he was behind bars, Jorge Sr would keep a close eye on his boy alongside his
Peruvian mother.
Jorge Jr started fighting pretty early on as a kid, as early as kindergarten.
He grew up in poverty with his mom working day and night to keep food on the table but
still there were nights where there was little to eat.
Initially he didn't know his dad had been arrested when he was 4 and they told him his
dad was in the army.
Young Jorge felt envious of his pops traveling the world making money while he went to bed
hungry.
While attending St. Brendan High School in Miami Dade County he was enrolled on the wrestling
team but during the summer after his first year he was expelled.
His mom was terrified that he was heading down a similar path of that as his father
and it was then she informed him that his dad wasn't in the army but locked up behind
bars.
At 14 or 15 he would go visit his dad and prison, locked up Jorge Sr. Decided that he
would do his best to mentor his son so that he didn't end up with a similar fate.
Despite all this, Jorge would soon have his own brush with the law and find himself in
prison as a young teen.
That seems to have been his wake up cal.
From there Jorge began spending his time in the gym and attending backyard Fight Clubs.
One of his first matches was at the age of 14 where he took on a 19 year old and to a
lot of people surprise – he won.
At the time everyone refered to Jorge as Ponytail – this includes fighting legend and OG Kimbo
Slice.
From there on out, footage of him fighting on streets started appearing online.
From there on out, Jorge forgot about school and focused his mind on training.
began to refine his fighting skills and stepped in the professional ring when he was only
19.
He participated in the Fast and Fearless kickboxing event.
He made his kickboxing debut in 2003 and a month later he debuted in mixed martial arts
which was at the time, still a relatively obscure sport.
The money, if any way extremely low.
His backyard brawls might earn him $40 bucks.
Speaking back on these days he stated:
It didn’t matter where I slept or what I was doing, as long as I could make it to the
gym and space out for those three, four hours.
I was like a kid all over again and I did that my whole life and it’s happened to
pay off now.
When his father eventually got out, after 18 years and some time in a deportation centre
Jorge and Jorge Sr finally got the opportunity to play wrestle and he learned pretty quickly
where he got his skill set from.
The fighter had barely turned 20 when he already had 3 wins in his record.
Back then his diet consisted mostly of McDonald's.
His first fight outside of the home state was his sixth fight when he faced Brazilian
Raphael Assuncao.
Then Masvidal returned back to Florida and a week later he knocked out Joe Lauzon.
After three more fights under the AFC banner, Jorge signed with the Bodog Fight where he
had three fights all of which he won, with one of them being in
Saint Petersburg, Russia.
He had two fights in Strikeforce from 2007 to 2008 performing with varying degrees of
success.
He took some time off to compete in more local competitions before returning to Strikeforce
in 2011.
In less than a year he managed to defeat Billi Evangelista and KJ Noons.
He headlined his first title shot against Gilbert Melendez it ended with a loss for
him by decision.
One fight later the UFC acquired Strikeforce and he became a UFC fighter in 2013.
There were more wins than loses defeating Tim Means and Michael Chiesa but lost to lightweight
Russian Rustam Khabilov.
He won his next three fights against Pat Healy, Daron Cruickshank, and James Krause and then
a split decision lost against Al Iaquinta.
Following this he decided to go back to the welterweight in July 2015 where he had been
performing for more than 10 years.
He knocked out Cezar Ferreira, but chalked up two losses to Benson Henderson and Lorenz
Larkin.
He won his three next fights with two of them being by TKO over Jake Ellenberger and Donald
“Cowboy” Cerrone and the other against Ross Pearson.
His winning streak was short lived.
Soon, he was honored with the title shot against Demian Maia and lost by split decision and
lost his next title shot against Stephen Thompson.
From there Jorge fell off the radar for over a year and a half.
He was pared up against British star Darren Till and it was supposed to be a cake walk
win but Jorge had other plans.
Jorge threw a monstrous left hook that knocked Till out even before he fell on the floor.
Next up was Ben Askren who he managed to knock out 5 seconds into the fight, setting a new
UFC record for the fastest knockout and from there – well a star was born!