Jorge Masvidal explains how he will know when it’s his time to retire: “I don’t want to be a stepping stone for nobody”

Jorge Masvidal doesn’t plan on being any fighter’s stepping stone.

Masvidal is currently 38-years-old and is on a three-fight losing skid and set to take on Gilbert Burns at UFC 287 on April 8. Although he has lost three in a row, he says he isn’t thinking about retiring as he is still holding his own in the gym. But, once he starts losing the rounds in the gym to other pro fighters he says that is when he will know he needs to retire.

“That is a question that I got the answer to it. I’m at American Top Team, I feel (is the) best gym in the f*****g world, we have numerous established killers right now and we have another world of guys coming up of young, hungry, talented (fighters) that nobody knows of that are just f*****g killers,” Masvidal said on the Joe Rogan Experience. “I’ve always felt when I come into the gym and I can’t hang with the pack when I can’t do a round with you know so and so and after that go with so and so and I’m getting the worser end of it consistently, I’ll call it quits. I don’t want to be a stepping stone for nobody. I’ve been in this sport for 20 years…

“The times that I just start to get the worser end of the sessions, it’s time for me to hang it up. I don’t need to go in the ring to find out. Once I can’t keep up with the pack anymore, I know my time has come,” Masvidal said. “It’s going to hurt like f**k because this is all I’ve known, this is my first, my last love, this is my everything. But, at the same time, I am not going to do a disservice to my body and let guys beat me that couldn’t have held my jockstrap, probably during my prime. That’ll be when I’ll call it quits. Once the gym is telling me, hey your time has come, I’m cool with it. I’ll just f*****g gracefully bow out.”

Although Masvidal says that is when he will know to retire, he says he still holds his own in the gym so he doesn’t see himself stopping anytime soon. He’s also confident he will KO Burns on April 8 to earn a title shot against Leon Edwards.

Jorge Masvidal (35-16) has lost three fights in a row after losing a decision to Colby Covington and back-to-back fights to Kamaru Usman for the belt. Prior to that, he scored a TKO win over Nate Diaz, and KO wins over Ben Askren and Darren Till.

Do you think Jorge Masvidal will beat Gilbert Burns?