Stephen Thompson weighs in on Jorge Masvidal’s celebration after Askren KO

Stephen Thompson certainly isn’t one to talk trash, but he isn’t down on Jorge Masvidal’s UFC 239 post-fight celebration.

There was some bad blood going into the UFC 239 main card bout between Masvidal and Ben Askren. “Gamebred” made it clear that he wasn’t a fan of Askren, while “Funky” kept poking the bear. Askren even suggested that Masvidal wasn’t secure in his own masculinity.

Masvidal delivered a devastating flying knee that shut Askren’s lights off in five seconds. After the bout, Masvidal taunted his fallen foe by imitating his pose. “Wonderboy” appeared on Submission Radio and was asked about his stance on Masvidal’s celebration.

“Well to me I’m definitely not the guy to talk trash number one, that’s just not who I am,” Thompson said. “But two, you know you do go out there and you talk a lot of trash and then you get put to sleep. It’s kind of embarrassing, right? But then again, Ben Askren knows how to play the game. He knows how to sell a fight. So you know that’s coming, that’s gonna happen. Like Conor McGregor, no matter who he fights, could be the nicest guy in the world, he’s gonna talk some trash. He’s gonna build the fight and he’s gonna try to get under your skin.”

Thompson continued:

“That said, Ben Askren I think also knows what kind of a man Jorge Masvidal is. Jorge doesn’t play that game. I think he takes it to another level. Even when he fought Darren Till. I think with guys like that, he works really hard, trains harder. I don’t know, his mindset’s different cause he wants to go out there and he wants to hurt you. The guys that talk the trash, the guys that do that, he’s almost [got] the Diaz mentality. He’s just an OG man, that’s the way he is. He’s not faking it. If he says he doesn’t like you, he really doesn’t freaking like you. If he’s gonna talk trash, he means it. He’s not hyping the fight up, he means it. And that’s just the kind of guy Jorge is.”

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/15/2019.