UFC on FOX 23's Jorge Masvidal doubles down on $200,000 bet to Dana White

DENVER – Following an upset stoppage of Donald Cerrone, Jorge Masvidal reiterated he wants to bet UFC President Dana White $200,000 on his welterweight prospects.

Masvidal said he wanted to earn his money by taking on top contenders in the 170-pound division, telling MMAjunkie, “The bigger the fight, the better” at the post-event press conference for UFC on FOX 23.

“My coaches know if it’s a big fight, I’m going to be at the gym,” he added after making his bet on the FOX-televised co-headliner at Pepsi Center in Denver. “If they give me some pretender, or another actor, I don’t know, I might not take it. That’s why I told Dana, if you want me to fight, take me up on this bet: $200,000. You can’t find nobody in the welterweight division that can beat me. Nobody.”

Earlier at the presser, White agreed that Masvidal (32-11 MMA, 9-4 UFC) looked like an unstoppable force against Cerrone (32-8 MMA, 19-5 UFC). But he wasn’t entirely sold on the veteran’s staying power, and indicated Cerrone had invited the loss by fighting too frequently.

“I hate when ‘Cowboy’ does this – he’s got four wins at welterweight, and he wants to fight back-to-back like this,” White said. “But that’s who this kid is. That’s what he wants to do.

“Now Masvidal? Never pulls the trigger, this kid. Incredibly, super talented. If he fought all the time like he fights tonight, he’ll be a world champion.”

Masvidal challenged the assumption that he is a hot-and-cold presence in the octagon – sort of. But he stressed he is always in control when he fights.

“Sometimes I like to play with my food,” he said. “I like to beat guys up. I like to torture guys. Sometimes I don’t pull the trigger; sometimes I drop dudes and I smile at them after I drop them. I do what I want in there – nobody tells me what to do or how to do it.

“I felt like knocking him out because I wasn’t going to decision. Sometimes in the past, I’ve been on cruise control, kicking a guy’s ass so much that I’m like, ‘I don’t need to pull the trigger.’ But I can pull the trigger when it needs to be pulled.”

With a win over Cerrone, Masvidal is bound to get more stiff opposition in the cage, so it behooves him to fire away from here on out.

To hear more from Masvidal, check out the video above.

And for complete coverage of UFC on FOX 23, check out the UFC Events section of MMAjunkie.