Jorge Masvidal has had a pretty busy week. Following his alleged attack on Colby Covington that resulted in Covington having a broken tooth, Masvidal was arrested on battery charges and was released on bail the same day.
Following his release, Jorge had an online meeting with the Nevada State Athletic Commission regarding the approval of Masvidal’s fighting promotion “Gamebred Fighting Championship” to hold events in Las Vegas.
The meeting was originally scheduled for this week, but given the chaotic events that followed, the fighter tried to re-schedule the meeting for another date. On Wednesday, he spoke before the Nevada State Athletic Commission in an attempt to postpone his license request in the State.
NSAC chairman Stephen J. Cloobeck was surprised that Masvidal was trying to postpone and not withdraw his request, after the series of events that happened before.
“If you look at what’s been reported in the news over the last couple of days, I would have assumed that this request would have been requested to be removed from our agenda, but to this point in time, it is not,” Cloobeck said.
“I believe that this application is in my opinion, no longer valid because it’s not an accurate application of the promoter’s true and accurate facts of their business and personal life.”
Masvidal responded to the chairman by stating that he participated in “mutual combat” against Covington in their scuffle, and was not charged with anything yet.
“Since I do have an open case, I’m not supposed to talk about it, but I guess you’re referencing that,” Masvidal said. “If we could table [the application], it would be better. Right now, I had mutual [combat] with another athlete and I can’t say too much on that, but if we could table it for later, that would be amazing… To my knowledge, I have not been charged.”
Towards the end of the meeting, the chairmen were surprised to find out Masvidal’s history of backyard scraps.
“Found out you were fighting in backyards?”a member of the Nevada State Commission asked .
Masvidal responded that his experience in Kimbo’s backyard promotion is what led him to the illustrious MMA career he would end up having.
Jorge’s first involvement with MMA happened in Kimbo Slice’s backyard ordeal over 20 years ago. “Gamebred” became known for his notorious backyard brawls against a fighter named “Ray”, who was visibly bigger than Masvidal.
On the other hand, UFC featured Masvidal’s colorful background in the UFC 4 video game. Back in 2016 Masvidal even predicted the UFC games would go on to feature ‘Backyard’ mode.
Hope they have a backyard mode @EASPORTSUFC #ufc #mma #mexico #cuba #miami pic.twitter.com/CkiXH2VIdL
— Jorge Masvidal (@GamebredFighter) February 26, 2016
At the time the game was released Masvidal was featured on the cover and explained:
“MMA is more than about the belt. It’s about who you are as a person and the determination that drives a fighter to go from unknown to selling out arenas all over the world,” Masvidal said in a press release. “I grew up backyard fighting so it’s exciting for me to see that style of fighting come to UFC 4 where players can bring out their Gamebred mentality.”
Masvidal recently pleaded not guilty to two felony charges – battery and criminal mischief. He is due back in court in late April.