Jorge Masvidal joined the ‘Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson’ podcast to discuss his MMA promotion ‘Gamebred Fighting Championship’ and their upcoming event on Friday, September 8, at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
Two former UFC heavyweight stars will headline the card. In the main event, Fabricio Werdum is fighting Junior Dos Santos in a bare-knuckle MMA match.
Origins of Gambred Fighting Championship
Masvidal was well known before his days in the UFC, thanks to a viral video of him bare-knuckle fighting with the late Kimbo Slice, a significantly bigger man. The video was uploaded in the early days of YouTube when it was more of an up-and-coming video-sharing platform as opposed to the juggernaut it is today. The video gained significant traction over the coming weeks, and Masivdal is grateful for the exposure it gave him in his earlier fighting career.
Keen to give fighters like himself similar opportunities to which afforded him, he created ‘Gamebred Fighting Championship,’ which is an MMA organization with a ruleset almost identical to the UFC. The primary difference is that in Masvidal’s promotion, gloves aren’t used. He shared on the podcast his rationale behind this thinking:
”I said, why not make it as close to a real fight, you know? Not just for the hitting, but when you’re choking (while wearing MMA gloves), there are certain spots you can’t get in because of the glove, so you’ll get to a good position, and it kind of becomes a stalemate because you can just grab the glove” Masivdal explained.
Gamebred then verified that the hands are sweatier when you’re fighting bare-knuckle, making them more difficult to grab. According to Masvidal, this prevents fighters from stalling their opponents on the ground and increases the chances of their being a submission or a finish due to strikes – an interesting perspective. While we’re not sure if there have been studies to back this up, it’s worth mentioning that in Gambred Fighting Championship’s last event, of the twelve fights on the card, nine ended in a finish.
Masvidal’s thoughts on Werdum vs. dos Santos
Although Junior dos Santos is well known to Masvidal, having trained with him for over seven years, the podcast guest gave an honest assessment of the fight. He recognized that the two-time world champion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Fabricio Werdum, would pose significant challenges on the ground. Masvidal noted he previously defeated Fedor Emelianenko in his Strikeforce days, a man some consider the greatest heavyweight of all time in mixed martial arts.
Junior dos Santos has a fantastic takedown defense, so Masvdal expects the fight to remain standing for the majority. This is why he thinks it’s a difficult fight to call, as Werdum has various strikes in his arsenal, and dos Santos has razor-sharp speed.
Where can I watch Gamebred Fighting Championship?
The main card gets underway at 8 pm Eastern / 5 pm Pacific in Jacksonville, Florida, tonight. The full card for the event is as follows:
Prelims
• Guerra vs. Rindh
• Wingate vs. Alvarez
• Herbert vs. Northrup
• Sojo vs. Hill
• Ruquet vs. Penafiel
Main Card
• Anthony Njokuani vs. Brandon Jenkins
• Ago Huskić vs. Brandon Davis
• Joshua Weems vs. Irwin Rivera
• Co-Main: Maki Pitolo vs. Joel Bauman
• Main Event: Junior dos Santos vs. Fabricio Werdum
Some tickets are still available and can be purchased here
For those watching at home, the event is expected to be broadcast on the organization’s YouTube channel.
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