For the second occasion, former UFC heavyweight champions Junior Dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum met inside a cage. This time there were no gloves shrouding their fists, but once again, Dos Santos would emerge the victor.
The bareknuckle MMA bout headlined Gamebread Bareknuckle 5, which took place Friday at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. After three rounds of action, Dos Santos earned two 30-27 scorecards from the cageside judges. Somehow, a judge thought Werdum won two rounds with a 28-29 score, causing the official result to be a split decision.
After feeling each other out in the opening moments, Werdum got the action started with a high kick that Dos Santos blocked. They then traded leg kicks, but Dos Santos knocked Werdum off his feet. Not rushing the action, he allowed Werdum to get back up and then Dos Santos began stalking forward, landing some quick left jabs, which would prove to be the weapon of choice throughout the fight.
During a takedown sequence toward the end of the first round, a cut was opened over the right of Werdum. Dos Santos then clipped Werdum with a right hand that sent him to the canvas.
Junior Dos Santos drops Fabricio Werdum and should secure round one! #GamebredBareknuckle | @GamebredFC pic.twitter.com/4ePdOAvs2R
— Combat Sports Today 📰 (@CSTodayNews) September 9, 2023
Werdum struggled to connect with strikes and complete takedowns as Dos Santos was very sharp defensively. Aside from a nice right hand in the second round, Werdum spent most of the fight watching out for fast punches and hard kicks incoming from his opponent.
Later in the fight, a cut was opened over the left eye of Werdum, causing the referee to step in and look closely with concern.
In what felt like a clear victory for Dos Santos, somehow one judge caused eyebrows to raise as the first score that was read by the announcer was a 29-28 in Werdum’s favor. Sanity was restored when the next two scores announced were 30-27s for Dos Santos.
The matchup marked a return to action for both heavyweights following lengthy periods of inactivity. Dos Santos was last in action over 15 months ago, when his shoulder popped out at Eagle FC 47, leading to a TKO loss vs. Yorgan de Castro. Werdum’s previous appearance was under the PFL banner 28 months ago, but his fight against Renan Ferreira has since been overturned to a no contest.
The bout was the second meeting between Dos Santos and Werdum. They first fought at UFC 90 in 2008, where Dos Santos stopped Werdum with punches in the first round. It was also the first time both fighters competed bareknuckle.
You can watch a full replay of the fight in the video above.
