Vicente 'The Silent Assassin' Luque is officially back in the win column, with the popular Brazilian scoring a fantastic 52-second submission win during the UFC 310 preliminaries last night.
The 33-year-old entered UFC 310 as the #14 welterweight prospect in the world and ahead of Tuesday's update, the Brazilian submission specialist already has one eye on the Top 10.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Vicente Luque is willing to abandon Top 10 plans to welcome back Jorge Masvidal
Popular welterweight veteran Vicente Luque earned a nice $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus last night after submitting Themba Gorimbo within a minute of their match for the UFC 310 prelims.
“This is it; this is what I do, I kill people,” Luque celebrated in the octagon and talked about how his next goal is to secure the record for most finishes in the welterweight division – ‘The Silent Assassin’ is currently second at 14, only one behind Matt Bruin on 15.
Speaking at the post-fight press conference, the 23-10-1 veteran noted that there are plenty of potential options as to who his next opponent could be.
While Luque would love to get back there against someone in the Top 10, he did acknowledge that there is one man he would be willing to make an exception for.
“Yeah, I mean, for me this fight was [about] end the year in a perfect way; so I can start my way back up the division. My focus has never stopped being a champion and that's what I'm going for…. 2025 is that run for the title, and I want that [to return on] that Miami card.
'I do [someone in the] Top 10, but I have an exception: if [Jorge] Masvidal really wants to take a step back there, and he wants to make it happen. I would like to compete against him.'
Jorge Masvidal recently revealed that he will rejoin the UFC roster in the new year, teasing that his comeback date has already been confirmed for the as-yet unannounced Miami card in April 2025.
“I want him as an opponent because I know it will be war,” Luque continued.
“I know the fans will enjoy this [fight]and I know we can both put up a fight.”
Despite being out of the MMA world for some time now, there's no doubt that Masvidal is still one of the sport's biggest stars. There's also an argument that Luque deserves such a showcase after his last submission win.
Luque was one of four fighters to receive an additional $50,000 at UFC 310, joining Alexandre Pantoja (defending Kai Asakura via second-round submission), Chase Hooper (defending Clay Guida via first-round submission) and Kennedy Nzechukwu (def. Lukasz Brzeski via first-round knockout).
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