Former UFC heavyweight champions and Brazilian legends Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos and Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum will meet in a bareknuckle MMA rematch of their UFC clash on Friday, September 8, headlining Jorge Masvidal‘s Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA event from VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

The event will take place under the unified rules of MMA, minus gloves, and also feature former UFC bantamweight champion Renan “The Baron” Barao taking on hard-hitting Sean Soriano in the co-main event. Additional undercard bouts will be announced in the coming weeks.

Tickets for the live event are on sale now and can be purchased through Ticketmaster.com.

“When we were thinking of the most violent fight we could make, we knew we had to get these two guys signed up,” said Masvidal, CEO of Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA. “We wanted to put together a fight that the fans wanted to watch. If you know about these guys, you know what to expect on September 8, and it’s going to be even better because it’s bareknuckle. These guys are both highly dangerous and in the top five of their weight class in the world. This is gonna end and start with violence.”

“The matchup with dos Santos and Werdum is a fight that Jorge and I have been talking about for the past three or four months,” said Dean Toole, president of Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA. “We’re absolutely stoked to finally get it done, and with both guys signing multi-fight deals, we have a lot of exciting fights to make in the heavyweight division.”

Dos Santos and Werdum first met in the octagon in 2008, with Dos Santos blitzing Werdum in round 1 to earn a sensational KO that was recognized as the “Knockout of the Year.” Now both have signed lucrative multi-fight deals with Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA that will kick off with a bareknuckle rematch as Werdum looks for revenge, while dos Santos looks to settle the rivalry in style.

A native of Cacador, Santa Catarina, Brazil, dos Santos (21-10) became UFC heavyweight champion in 2011, as he knocked out Cain Velasquez in just 64 seconds to claim the title. Throughout his storied career, Dos Santos scored victories over a litany of notable names beyond Werdum and Velasquez, including Stipe Miocic, Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, Gabriel Gonzaga, Mark Hunt and Derrick Lewis. Dos Santos also made appearances on the popular All Elite Wrestling series in 2021.

“I’m very excited about this opportunity,” said Dos Santos. “We’re here to entertain people. Bareknuckle is growing a lot and I’m coming to put on a great show on September 8. The fight against Werdum was one of the most important fights of my career. It’s very special to be here in a position to fight him again.”

Werdum (24-9-1) began his fighting career as a highly-decorated jiu-jitsu competitor, winning four world championships amongst his many accolades. Representing Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Werdum now resides in Torrance, California and earned his way to UFC by competing in the PRIDE Fighting Championships. He would go on to first win the interim UFC heavyweight championship by stopping Hunt in round two of their 2014 showdown, eventually unifying the heavyweight titles via a third-round guillotine choke submission of Velasquez in 2015.

“The past is the past, and right now I’m all about the present,” said Werdum. “This fight is very important to me and I’m happy to have this chance against dos Santos once again. I’m excited about bareknuckle and about making history on September 8.”

Once considered one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in MMA, Barao (34-9) is a proud native of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. He captured the UFC’s interim bantamweight championship in 2012 by defeating Urijah Faber via unanimous decision. He was later elevated to the full bantamweight champion and defended that title successfully by stopping Eddie Wineland in 2013 and Faber in their 2013 rematch. Barao impressively was victorious in seven of his first eight UFC appearances.

The 33-year-old Soriano (15-9) was born in Providence, Rhode Island and built up his reputation by dominating regional promotions in the New England era before debuting with UFC in 2014. Now fighting out of Boca Raton, Florida, Soriano has ended 12 of his 15 pro MMA victories inside of the distance. Most recently, Soriano debuted in Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA this May with a TKO victory over Ago Huskic.