Both fighters came face-to-face at the conclusion of the Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA ceremonial weigh ins.
Former UFC heavyweight champions Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum will collide atop the Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA event, going down TONIGHT (Fri., Sept. 8, 2023) at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
We’ll have LIVE results and play-by-play action RIGHT HERE.
“I don’t think of this as a rematch because so much is different today,” Dos Santos said. “The main thing hasn’t changed though, it’s still his grappling against my striking. My motivation is to go in there and show the world the best of me. When I do that, I’ll walk away with a win. I built who I am through a lot of hard work and sacrifice. That’s why I’m privileged to be in this position again. I just love to fight and now that I’m doing a new thing in bareknuckle, it’s gonna be very fun.”
Dos Santos holds a knockout win over Werdum from their UFC 90 clash back in 2008.
“I don’t think about the past, I just think about today,” Werdum added. “My moment is now and I don’t think about what’s come before. No gloves will help my grip and with my grappling. I think it might be a little bit of an advantage for me. I’m very comfortable with no gloves. I think it’s only a small difference for me to be bareknuckle, because MMA gloves are small. I train a lot of the time with no gloves in the gym anyway. I’m really excited to have this bareknuckle fight for the first time.”
The winner of Dos Santos vs. Werdum is expected to face the winner of Alan Belcher vs. Roy Nelson, who collide on Oct. 28 at Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi.