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Jorge Masvidal Campaigns for Floyd Mayweather Jr. Fight: 'I Can Box My Ass Off'

Tim Daniels

UFC welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal said one of his goals for 2020 is a boxing match against undefeated five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Masvidal told TMZ Sports in an interview released Saturday his dream schedule for next year includes an MMA bout with Conor McGregor in April or May followed by the cross-sport encounter with Mayweather in November.

"2019 was cool," he said. "But, if you like violence, 2020 will be a very powerful year. We've got a lot of options. I've got a lot of lottery tickets in my hand."

Masvidal enjoyed a breakout year with knockout victories over Darren Till, Ben Askren and Nate Diaz after sitting out the entirety of 2018. The time off, which followed losses to Demian Maia and Stephen Thompson, appeared to revitalize the former Strikeforce standout.

Now the 35-year-old Miami native believes he's done enough to warrant an opportunity to face two of the biggest superstars in combat sports. He's also confident in his ability to put up a better fight against Mayweather than McGregor did when he tried his hand at boxing in 2017.

"I can box my ass off," Masvidal told TMZ. "Not saying I'm a better boxer than Mayweather, but man, I'm gonna be in there with bad intentions trying to hurt him."

McGregor suffered a 10th-round knockout loss to Money after laboring through the latter stages of the fight.

"I'm a well-conditioned athlete that's not gonna fade," Masvidal said in reference to that bout. "I'm not gonna fade in the eighth or ninth round. I'm gonna be there for the whole night."

Last month, Mayweather told Rory Carroll of Reuters he was staying retired from the "very, very brutal sport" of boxing, but he later hinted at a comeback in an Instagram post that featured a picture of him alongside UFC President Dana White.

Masvidal sounds prepared to step up should the opportunity arise to face one of the best boxers in history.

   

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