Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal have developed a pretty bitter rivalry. While both play it cool and act like the other doesn’t bother them, the nasty side crops its head up whenever they are interviewed. But Usman operates himself with a lot of class. As a result, his latest bit of trash-talk saw him give a very backhanded compliment to Masvidal.

While speaking to Brett Okamoto of ESPN, Usman was asked about Masvidal and how his star power may be affected by a second loss to Usman. The Welterweight Champion seemed unfazed by the question and answered in a very honest way.

READ MORE: ‘He Knows He Can’t Beat Me’- Kamaru Usman Predicts He Will Beat Jorge Masvidal ‘Badly’ In A Rematch

“I think they’ve done a good job of building him. Even though after he loses the second fight to me, he’d still be Jorge Masvidal. He’s still gonna be able to go out and sell some tequila. He’ll still be able to sell burgers or something, he’ll find something to do.”

The tequila reference is towards Jorge Masvidal having his own brand, Mezcal. While Masvidal has never aligned himself with any burger company, one of his most famous insults involved him giving a ‘three-piece and a soda’ to Leon Edwards.

Kamaru Usman vs Jorge Masvidal: What happens if Jorge loses?

Okamoto paints a grim view of Masvidal’s future after a loss to Kamaru Usman, talking about how hard it is for mainstream stars to accept a reduced role. However, if Conor McGregor is an example, fighters can easily bounce back from losses and still be massive names. But Tyron Woodley is an example of what happens when a mainstream star cannot recover his momentum.

Masvidal losing to a champion like Usman shouldn’t affect his future fights as direly as people think. There are plenty of big fights for Masvidal to still have. This includes facing former best friend Colby Covington or finally facing Leon Edwards.

But with the other two men also in the title hunt, it will be hard for Masvidal to stay relevant at the top of the division if he keeps losing. But his recent record is still solid, and losing to Usman again should not be a massive dent in his career.