When it comes to Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA, perhaps it should come as no surprise that Jorge Masvidal is heavily involved. After all, that’s his nickname and his likeness in the logo.
But signing fighters, planning events and making fights is far from a one-man job, said Masvidal, whose role is “more the recruiting side, matchmaking to an extent.” It’s a team effort.
Take this weekend for instance, with former UFC champion Junior Dos Santos and UFC veteran Alan Belcher squaring off in the first Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA heavyweight title fight that headlines Saturday’s event at Kia Center in Orlando, Fla.
“Me and the team put together this plan that Fabricio Werdum would face Junior Dos Santos, and Roy Nelson and Alan Belcher were over here, and the cream would just rise to the top, you know?” Masvidal told MMA Junkie Radio on Thursday. “We’d have our heavyweight championship with the two winners, and here we are.”
Masvidal, 39, got into the promotion side of the fight game back in 2021 while he was still an active UFC fighter, running both MMA and boxing events. Masvidal retired last year (although he’s itching to come back), which freed him up to take on more responsibility.
Masvidal said he’s “not hands-on on every single detail” about the promotion, but “on the matchups, I try to be as much as possible.” One thing Masvidal said he does in hopes of maximizing the excitement of fights under his banner is study.
“I want to put the right dogs in there, so I watch film of all the guys that have been there, see how they act, how they take a shot, how they give a shot, if they got that dog in them,” Masvidal said. “I don’t want to bring individuals that, when they feel that bone on bone, they’re gonna want to hug it out. We try to match these guys very, very well – just dog-on-dog action.”
He added, “I want only guys that f*cking want to fight. So when I see the guys in the gym getting after it, and they’re letting us know, ‘Look, man, I’m willing to die by this shit,’ those are the guys I want to book.”
