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Jorge Masvidal remains one of the most polarizing and entertaining figures in UFC history.
Rising out of the Miami street fighting scene, he's famous for his larger-than-life personality and holds the record for the fastest KO in UFC history.
Finishing his career with a 35-17 record, he's known for his signature flying knee move, and his boxing chops. He cultivated the "Gamebred" persona: someone ready to fight anytime, anywhere.
Jorge Masvidal in his welterweight fight 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's not merely a fighter in the realm of mixed martial arts, but an outspoken voice on the Latino right-wing, and a vociferous defender of President Donald Trump, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
He's also been in the headlines lately because of rumors of a Trump-backed UFC event to take place at the White House on the south lawn, possibly featuring a bout between Masvidal and legend Conor McGregor.
He recently spoke with Fox News Digital at the Hispanic Prosperity Gala at Mar-a-Lago, an event at which he was a co-host.
Masvidal attributes his involvement in politics to seeing the effects of communism first-hand through his family history:
"Me personally, my dad being Cuban, escaping that f------ horrible, tyrannical government, seeing what they've done with Venezuela … let's not let what happened over there happen over here, which is getting crazier than ever, so I just want to thank my Latin people for making the right decision, knowing what communism, socialism looks like, even though they try to f------ disguise it in bulls---, we know because we've already seen that horror movie. I've lived that horror movie numerous times in my life because of my family. So I just want to say f--- communism!"
Jorge Masvidal reacts after his decision loss to Gilbert Burns of Brazil in a welterweight fight during the UFC 287 event at Kaseya Center on April 08, 2023, in Miami, Florida. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Masvidal believes that Trump should take out the Communist regime in Cuba, like he did in Venezuela during the Jan. 3 operation in which President Nicolas Maduro was captured and extracted 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've needed it. They're dying, literally, over there. We need this. We need this for Cuba."
Masvidal expressed a nuanced position on Trump's hardliner immigration policies.
"Violent criminals, yes, offenders, people that are bad, scam artists, get rid of them. I just wish for the good hard-working Latin people that maybe they committed a crime when they first got here, they did their time, and then 20, 30 years later they're being a good citizen," he told Fox News Digital.
UFC'S JORGE MASVIDAL SHEDS LIGHT ON CUBA, CALLS THE COUNTRY A 'KILLING MACHINE'
"I wish a lot of those people wouldn't get deported. I'm Latin myself, the majority of my family still doesn't have papers, so it's a tough situation, you know. I want all my Latin people that are actually doing good here, paying their taxes, to be able to remain or find a program that can bring them back fast. That's what I would like to see, but all the violent people you got to get them out."
Masvidal can pinpoint the moment at which he became politically active.
Jorge Masvidal poses on the scale during the UFC 287 official weigh-in at the Hilton Downtown Miami hotel on April 07, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
"It'll be my dad escaping from Cuba at a young age and sitting me down and family telling me the stories. My aunt from Guantanamo Bay … the nearest town. It's rigged with landmines…My aunt risked her life to cross over. A mine blew up and exploded her teeth."
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"And these are the people that mentored me throughout life, so it wasn't one particular incident, but it was just a life upbringing [seeing] what communism looks like … it's a cancer, the parasite in any society where it touches down. Be ready to fight it if it ever comes to America. And that's basically it."
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David Unsworth reports on Latin America. You can follow David Unsworth on Twitter @LatinAmerUpdate
