Jorge Masvidal Shuts Door on Possible Move to Bare-Knuckle Fighting

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.”
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