Jorge Masvidal has always been an advocate for increased fighter pay, which is why he’s done his best to align Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA with the best investors he can find.
The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) superstar made a killing financially over the last few years of his career. After turning in a 2019 campaign that saw him stop Darren Till, Ben Askren, and Nate Diaz, “Gamebred” put himself in a great position to challenge UFC for a new contract and raise awareness for low fighter pay. The promotion was hesitant to give in to Masvidal’s demands forcing the veteran fighter to ask for his UFC release.
Cooler heads ultimately prevailed and Masvidal was able to sign the contract he wanted. He later re-upped in 2022 making him one of the highest paid athletes in the promotion.
Along the way Masvidal created his own Gamebred FC fight promotion, offering both boxing bouts and bareknuckle MMA. The latter is something that is rarely seen in today’s landscape, but the truest form of fighting outside of throwing fists with someone in the street. It’s a unique form of combat sports and one that Masvidal is proud to lead.
Fortunately, Masvidal and his team have brough on some “credible” and “correct” investors to help pay his fighters the way they should be. While other promotions are struggling to even the playing field from top-to-bottom on any given fight card Gamebred FC has been financially generous to its athletes.
But who exactly is backing Gamebred FC and allowing Masvidal to offer these large payouts?
“I gotta run that by PR what I’m supposed to say here,” joked Masvidal during a recent interview with MMAMania (shown in the above video player). “I can’t say who they are because they want to remain silent. But it’s a very credible, very correct investment team. They’re very much aligned with the same vision that we have. This is something that nobody else has. This is something that has taken the sport to its origin and at the same time putting it in the future. All at once.”
“I just love it,” continued Masvidal. “This is what I get to do is promote. Promote these fights. Promote these animals, These Roman-like gladiators. This is the closest thing you’re going to get to a Roman gladiator. Bareknuckle MMA.”
If Masvidal is able to continue to utilize these secret investors who have trusted him with their money then his bareknuckle MMA venture should only increase in revenue and notoriety. And with the likes of former UFC heavyweight champions Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum joining the ranks of Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA the promotion is not lacking recognizable star power.
Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA 5, set to go down on Sept. 8 at the VySar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., will feature a main event clash between the aforementioned JDS and Werdum. It’s unknown at this time how much each fighter will make.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
