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Jorge Masvidal remains one of the most polarizing and entertaining figures in UFC history.
Rising out of the street fighting scene in Miami, he is famous for his larger-than-life personality and holds the record for the fastest KO in UFC history.
He finished his career with a 35-17 record and is known for his signature flying knee move and boxing chops. He cultivated the “Gamebred” persona: someone ready to fight anytime, anywhere.
Jorge Masvidal in his welterweight bout during the UFC 287 event on April 8, 2023 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, FL. (Alejandro Salazar/PxImages/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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However, he is not only a mixed martial arts fighter, but an outspoken voice of the Latino right and a vocal defender of President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
He has also been in the headlines recently due to rumors of a Trump-backed UFC event to take place at the White House on the South Lawn, possibly featuring a fight between Masvidal and legend Conor McGregor.
He recently spoke with Pakinomist Digital at the Hispanic Prosperity Gala at Mar-a-Lago, an event he co-hosted.
Masvidal attributes his involvement in politics to seeing the effects of communism firsthand through his family history:
“Me personally, my father, who is Cuban, is escaping the f—— horrible, tyrannical government, when I see what they’ve done to Venezuela … let’s not let what happened over there happen over here, which is going to be crazier than ever before, so I just want to thank my Latin people for making the right decision, knowing what communism, socialism looks like in – even if they try to f- bull—, we know because we’ve already seen that horror movie, i’ve lived that horror movie numerous times in my life, so i just want to say f— communism.
Jorge Masvidal reacts after his decision loss to Gilbert Burns of Brazil in a welterweight bout during the UFC 287 event at the Kaseya Center on April 8, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Masvidal believes Trump should exclude the communist regime in Cuba, just as he did in Venezuela during the Jan. 3 operation that captured President Nicolas Maduro and extradited him to the United States to face drug-trafficking charges.
“One hundred percent in Cuba … I can tell you, it should have been done 60 years ago. The people need it. They need it. They’re dying, literally, over there. We need this. We need this for Cuba.”
Masvidal expressed a nuanced stance on Trump’s tough immigration policy.
“Violent criminals, yes, offenders, people who are bad, con artists, get rid of them. I just wish for the good hard-working Latinos that maybe they committed a crime when they first got here, they did their time, and then 20, 30 years later they’re a good citizen,” he told Pakinomist Digital.
UFC’S JORGE MASVIDAL SHADES LIGHT ON CUBA, CALLS THE COUNTRY A ‘KILLING MACHINE’
“I wish a lot of those people wouldn’t be deported. I’m Latino myself, the majority of my family still doesn’t have papers, so it’s a tough situation, you know. I want all my Latinos who are actually doing well here, pay their taxes, stay or find a program that can bring them back quickly. That’s what I want to see them out of, but all the people you have to get out.”
Masvidal can pinpoint the moment he became politically active.
Jorge Masvidal poses on the scales during the official UFC 287 weigh-ins at the Hilton Downtown Miami hotel on April 7, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
“It’s going to be my dad fleeing Cuba at a young age and sitting me down and the family telling me the stories. My aunt from Guantanamo Bay … the nearest town. It’s rigged with land mines … My aunt risked her life to cross over. One mine blew up and exploded her teeth.”
“And these are the people who guided me throughout my life, so it wasn’t a specific incident, but it was just a life education [seeing] what does communism look like… it is a cancer, the parasite of any society it touches. Be ready to fight it if it ever comes to America. And that’s basically it’.
