While Jorge
Masvidal appears to be all-in on promoting bare-knuckle fights,
he claims we will never see him compete in one.
The 38-year-old hung up his MMA gloves for good following a
decision loss against Gilbert
Burns at UFC 287 in April, the fourth setback in a row for the
former
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title challenger
and inaugural BMF champ. “Gamebred” will remain closely involved
with the sport, however, as his eponymous promotion, Gamebred Fighting Championship, has put on
boxing as well as MMA events—both of the bare-knuckle variety—since
its debut in June of 2021.
Gamebred FC’s events have usually featured well-known names,
including numerous UFC veterans; its latest card on Sept. 8 was
headlined by former heavyweight champs Junior dos
Santos and Fabricio
Werdum in a rematch of their first meeting at UFC 90 a decade
and a half ago, with dos Santos prevailing to go 2-0 against “Vai
Cavalo.” The league is set to put on its next show on Nov. 10 at
the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Miss. Gamebred FC 6 will
feature a heavyweight title fight between UFC alumni Roy Nelson
and Alan
Belcher, atop a card studded with other UFC and Bellator
MMA vets including Hector
Lombard, Francisco
Trinaldo and Chase
Sherman.
The new venture harks back to Masvidal’s roots, having started his
fighting career in the same unsanctioned, bare-knuckle backyard
brawls that propelled Kevin “Kimbo
Slice” Ferguson to stardom. “Gamebred” was recently asked if
there was any chance of him returning to those roots with a
bareknuckle fight. However, he firmly dismissed the idea, citing
hand injuries suffered over two decades of combat sports. Masvidal told Andrew Whitelaw in a recent interview
with Sportskeeda, “I would love to say yeah but the way that my
hands are, I couldn’t. You know I have done so much freaking damage
in these 20 years to my hands, if I did bare knuckle that would be
my one and done you know. Some guys can do 15- 20 fights, not a
problem but the injuries that I’ve had on my hand, I’d be no good
after that.”