Ex-Jon Jones foe signs to Jorge Masvidal’s promotion for bare knuckle MMA tournament

An individual who battled Jon Jones for UFC gold will end his MMA retirement to return to the sport, but he will still keep the proverbial and literal gloves hung up. This is because Anthony Smith will be battling in Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Bare Knuckle MMA promotion as part of a heavyweight tournament field.

While there was some prior rhetoric that Gamebred Bare Knuckle MMA might be trending toward ceasing operations, the titular figure came out with some huge news. Jorge Masvidal revealed this news to MMA Junkie, with a heavyweight tournament taking place as well as a lightweight grand prix.

There is 500 grand spread out among this crowd of talent, with each tournament including sixteen fighters, and all four stages of these tournaments are said to be set to transpire within the vacuum of this calendar year. A return card in the Dominican Republic on April 10th, with a sophomore return event targeted for Miami on May 1st.

Taking it back to ‘Lion Heart’ Smith though, he will do battle with former BKFC heavyweight champ and UFC veteran Chase Sherman. The other announced bouts in this heavyweight tournament include Todd Duffee versus Bruno Cappelozza, Guto Inocente versus Mohammed Usman, Alexandr Romanov versus Nikolay Kovalenko.

The remaining heavyweight cintests in addition to all of the lightweight fights will be announced by Gamebred Bare Knuckle MMA. This announcement, set to drop in the coming days, will presumably have many fans excited to see the promotion return for the first time since November 2024.

Jon Jones is more reliable for the UFC White House card than Conor McGregor, per Jorge Masvidal

Jon Jones is more likely to fight in the UFC this Summer than Conor McGregor, according to Jorge Masvidal. Delving into that thought process during an interview with Thunderpick, Masvidal stated,

“I wouldn’t put Conor McGregor on the White House card. Jon Jones is more reliable.”