Jorge Masvidal launches brutal $500,000 bare-knuckle MMA tournament with six UFC veterans

Feb 17, 2026 - 15:30

Gamebred Fighting Championship returns in April with a real treat for combat sports fans.

Jorge Masvidal‘s bare-knuckle MMA promotion is planning two tournaments – one at heavyweight and one at lightweight – both with a $500,000 prize pot.

Smith retired from MMA last April, but will return for the Gambred FC tournament

16 fighters will compete in both tournaments, which will be contested across four rounds in events spread out in 2026.

The first card, Gamebred FC 9, will take place on April 10 in the Dominican Republic.

This will be followed by another event on May 1 in Miami.

While Masvidal stopped short of revealing the names in the mix for the 155lbs bracket, he confirmed that former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Anthony Smith will face fellow UFC veteran Chase Sherman in the first round of the heavyweight tournament.

Smith (38-22) hung up his gloves after falling to defeat against Zhang Mingyang last April, but is now ditching the gloves and trying his hand at the rawest form of fighting.

Sherman (18-13) is very familiar with bare-knuckle fighting.

He is a former BKFC heavyweight champion and has competed three times (2-1) for Gambred FC.

Other matchups Masvidal disclosed include Guto Inocente (11-6) vs Mohammed Usman (11-4), Alexandr Romanov (20-4) vs Nikolay Kovalenko (11-2), and Todd Duffee (9-4) vs Bruno Cappelozza (15-7).

Usman, Romanov, Inocente, and Duffee are all UFC alumni, while Kovalenko has mostly competed under the RCC MMA banner in Russia.

The inclusion of Usman, brother of former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru, is particularly controversial given that he is currently serving a 30-month doping suspension.

Usman will also compete in the event, which has a $500,000 prize pot

Gamebred FC 9 will be the company’s first event since November 2024, when Brandon Davis and Randy Costa’s bantamweight title fight ended in a no-contest due to an illegal knee.

Their next run of events, Masvidal assures, will be bigger and better than ever.

“I don’t mind taking the loss (from a smaller gate) for making a huge statement online,” Masvidal told MMA Junkie.

“We’re giving as much money as we can to the fighters. … Really, who’s doing anything right now?

“It’s just worked out perfectly. As I wasn’t able to pump so much GFC, the other shows were kind of dying off.

“And now, I don’t know about these other shows. I haven’t heard a date or anything.

“So we’re coming in strong these next few years. People are going to have to move aside, brother.”