UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal said Monday he's "dead serious" about wanting to fight Canelo Alvarez.
Both fighters won in their respective sports Saturday night, with Masvidal claiming the UFC's mythical BMF title and Alvarez defeating Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight boxing title.
"Is Canelo a better boxer than me? Has he thrown 10,000 jabs more than me, cause that's what he does morning and night cause he's just boxing? Yeah. He's a better boxer," Masvidal said on Ariel Helwani's MMA Show. "But can I bring some elements that boxers ain't used to that are in the legal realm of boxing and throw Canelo completely off his game? F--- yes.
"I'm a natural bigger dude. ... With boxing gloves on I'm not afraid of breaking my hand because I have that cast [of tape] on, it will be a little bit extra harder. I feel I can be a legitimate ... threat in there. Plus I'm a little longer than him, too."
Alvarez weighed in for his fight at 174 1/2 pounds; Masvidal weighed 169.6 pounds for his.
The idea of this fight might be nothing more than Masvidal trying to conceive of how he can make the most money. Masvidal said he wants his next opponent to provide the biggest paycheck, and the most lucrative fight in combat sports history was when UFC star Conor McGregor faced boxing great Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match on Aug. 26, 2017.
"In the wake of Conor and Mayweather, it showed me a lot of things that I thought were good and bad," Masvidal said. "I saw they can't read us as well as they can read a boxer. Our movements are different. How we cover distance is different. Those things give them problems.
"I think I can throw enough punches that I can attack Canelo and put him on his ass. I'd be going for the knockout, obviously. Nothing else. This is not to disrespect Canelo, because I think the dude is a beast. I think he's a stud. It would be an honor to get in the ring with him. But he did say some s--- like no MMA fighter would be a challenge and this and that. I beg to differ."
As far as a possible fight with McGregor, Masvidal said: "Throw some numbers my way. If you want to get your ass kicked in April, I'm here. If not, stop talking."