Two former UFC heavyweight champions Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum fought each other in a bareknuckle MMA fight at Gamebred Bareknuckle 5 last night, with JDS emerging victorious via split-decision.
The 39-year-old dos Santos had gone into the fight off a five-fight losing streak, while the 46-year-old Werdum was returning from a two-year absence after picking up a win in his final UFC fight back in 2020, then having a no-contest in the PFL a year later.
JDS got the better of the striking action early in the fight and had already opened up a cut to Werdum’s right eye by the closing stages of the 1st round when he suddenly landed a big right hand that floored him. Werdum survived but as he headed back to his corner here the cut to his right eye looked bad. Dos Santos continued to boss the striking battle in the rounds that followed, while Werdum attempted unsuccessfully to get the fight to the mat. To add to his woes, Werdum also suffered a nasty cut to his left eyelid in the final round.
In the end JDS was the clear winner, though for some unknown reason once judge saw it in werdum’s favor, leading dos Santos to have to settle for a split-decision victory (28-29, 30-27 x3).
Check out all the Gamebred Bareknuckle 5 results below.
Junior dos Santos def. Fabricio Werdum via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 30-27)
Joel Bauman def. Maki Pitolo via TKO (punches) at 2:36mins of Round 2
Joshua Weems def. Irwin Rivera via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Ago Huskic def. Brandon Davis via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Anthony Njokuani def. Brandon Jenkins via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Joey Ruquet def. Joe Penafiel via TKO (strikes) at 3:01mins of Round 2
Jhonasky Sojo def. Tyler Hill via TKO (punches) at 4:52mins of Round 1
Reggie Northrup def. Cody Herbert via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
Shahzaib Rind def. Carlos Guerra via TKO (punches) at 2:40mins of Round 1
Juan Alvarez def. Christopher Wingate via submission (heel hook) at 0:13mins of Round 1
