Gabriel Gonzaga vs. 'Bigfoot' Silva to Headline BKFC 8 in October

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is set to return for BKFC 8 in October and will be headlined by two former UFC heavyweights in Antonio Silva and Gabriel Gonzaga.

The announcement that the two Brazilians would be squaring off was broken by Gonzaga on Wednesday during a live episode of “Knockout Radio” (transcript via MMAJunkie.com):

“I have a real love for boxing,” Gonzaga said. “This is the best way to test myself, and there isn’t really a better event than that.”

Gonzaga said he is very familiar with his Brazilian counterpart but the pair never crossed paths in their MMA careers:

“I know him and he knows me, but we never trained together,” Gonzaga said.

BKFC president David Feldman confirmed the fight in a press release on Wednesday afternoon:

“I am very excited to have these two legends competing in the BKFC squared circle. They have fought and beat some of the best fighters in the world and now they will fight each other. Tampa is a great fight market and we are thrilled to be able to host another event there. The fans in Tampa love BKFC and we plan on giving them another great show.”

It was announced just last month that “Bigfoot” had signed with the BKFC promotion after losing his last five MMA fights. The 39-year-old turned to kickboxing in 2017 but lost his debut fight against Glory heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven by second-round knockout.

The 40-year-old Gonzaga was released from the UFC in 2016 after losing to Derrick Lewis by knockout. The Brazilian returned to MMA in 2018 after a stint in boxing and competed at Russian Cagefighting Championship losing to Alexander Emelianenko via second-round TKO.