Practically 15 years faraway from their first assembly contained in the Octagon, Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum will run again their UFC 90 scrap. However this time, they’ll go away the gloves at house.
As reported by famend fight sports activities journalist Ariel Helwani on Twitter, the 2 former UFC heavyweight world champions will sq. off in a bare-knuckle MMA bout below Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA banner on September 8. Emanating from the VyStar Veteran’s Memorial Area in Jacksonville, the 2 heavyweight icons are anticipated to headline the occasion which may even characteristic Renan Barao vs. Sean Soriano and Brandon Jenkins vs. Anthony Njokuani
The Careers of Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum Have Taken Very Comparable Paths in Current Years
Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum are two of essentially the most achieved heavyweight fighters in combined martial arts historical past. Their bout at UFC 90 ended simply 80 seconds into the competition with JDS scoring a first-round knockout. The victory got here within the early going of an unbelievable 10-fight win streak for dos Santos that in the end led to him capturing the UFC heavyweight title in November 2011. His title run was short-lived, defending the crown in opposition to Frank Mir earlier than handing it again to the identical man he took it from, Cain Velasquez.
Like JDS, Fabricio Werdum captured the heavyweight title with a win over Velasquez at UFC 188. He would go on to lose the title lower than a yr later in opposition to the final consensus heavyweight GOAT, Stipe Miocic.
Each males have solely competed as soon as since exiting the UFC in 2020. Werdum competed in a single battle below the PFL banner whereas Junior dos Santos fought in Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Eagle FC. JDS squared off with fellow UFC vet Yorgan De Castro in Could 2022 and suffered a shoulder harm seconds into the third spherical, forcing a stoppage. It was dos Santos’ fifth-straight loss through TKO.
