Johnny Eblen‘s credentials as a top fighter were solidified at Bellator 290 as the American top team representative showed how impressive he could be in his win against Anatoly Tokov. The 31-year-old now has a successful defense of his middleweight title under his belt while maintaining his undefeated record as he moves up to 13 career wins. After this win, UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal had a lot of great things to say about Eblen as he made an appearance on The MMA hour hosted by Ariel Helwani.

Talking about his training partner at ATT, the BMF star expressed his solid belief in Eblen, even backing the 31-year-old to win the UFC middleweight title if he was to fight for it right now. Masvidal also revealed during the conversation how Eblen‘s wrestling has constantly improved, which he proved in his fight against Gegard Mousasi last year.

Jorge Masvidal on backing Johnny Eblen since his amateur days

The UFC welterweight showed his excitement at watching Eblen rise through the ranks; as he talked about how he always had faith in the 31-year-old. Masvidal laid down some serious claims when talking about the skills of Eblen as he pointed out his well-roundedness.

“I’ve been talking about Johnny Eblen since he was an amateur man. You go back to interviews anywhere. I’ve said it. This guy’s gonna be a Bellator Champion and I’ll tell you right now if he goes to UFC, he’d be a UFC champion. He has all the goods and right now there’s not a lot of people that could even grapple with him. Forget that, he has f****g  great hands, great power. And I’m telling you this guy lives at the gym.” stated the Gamebred.

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The 38-year-old went on to point at Eblen‘s discipline and work ethic that always kept him busy at the gym.

“He’s going to work out, he’s going to hit the back, he’s gonna run, he’s gonna jump rope and then once his body gets a little bit more healed up, like nothing happened man, he is in practice constantly just getting better.” were Masvidal‘s exact words.

Masvidal talks about Eblen’s training and fight against Gegard Mousasi

As per ‘Gamebred’, the main reason for the Bellator fighter’s improvement was his exposure to better wrestlers on the mats. As per Masvidal, Eblen would always seek out other high-level partners to roll with.

“He’s finding you out. He’s grabbing you by the hand. ‘hey you’re gonna be my drill partner and then we’re gonna go live and boom’ so that’s why it shows man. He’s constantly pushing. I mean, I tell you with no with no hairs on my tongue, no nothing. But he is the best middleweight right now currently in the world. I truly believe that, yeah.” 

 Masvidal even went on to say that beating a legend in Gegard Mousasi was a clear demonstration of how good Eblen was. While stating this, ‘Gamebred’ also showed his admiration for Mousasi as well.

“I was saying it before the Mousasi fight. This is one of the best middleweights in the world. To me, Mousasi is not only is he a legend, but he’s so f***g good, so crafty. Doesn’t get hurt, good everywhere. You could take the guy down, you’re not gonna do no damage, and then he’ll just get up. And then get right back in your face. I think Mousasi is one of the better Fighters at 185. And how Johnny beat him, it really showed how ahead of the pack he is, you know. His performance on Saturday put another staple on it.” stated the BMF.

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There’s no doubt that beating Mousasi and following it up with his performance at Bellator 290 does put Eblen among some of the elite MMA fighters right now.

But will he be able to achieve the same at UFC as claimed by Jorge Masvidal? Let us know in the comment section.

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