JACKSONVILLE, Florida – Two all-action veterans will clash in an explosive bareknuckle MMA duel as Joel “King Bau” Bauman take on Maki “Coconut Bombz” Pitolo in the co-main event of Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA event on Friday, September 8 from VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, highlighting a stacked undercard of explosive attractions.
The event will take place under the unified rules of MMA, minus gloves, and is headlined by former UFC heavyweight champions and Brazilian legends Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos and Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum meeting in a bareknuckle MMA rematch of their UFC clash.
Tickets for the live event are on sale now and can be purchased through Ticketmaster.com.
“This lineup on Friday, September 8 is guaranteed to deliver violence from start to finish,” said Jorge Masvidal, CEO of Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA. “All of these fighters are truly capable of stealing the show. Bareknuckle allows these guys to go all out in the purest form of fighting, and that means that the fans are gonna be the biggest winners of the night. Make sure you get into your seat or tune-in early, because you could be getting a classic moment at any point throughout the show.”
“With a star-studded main event between Dos Santos and Werdum, it was important to us that this undercard live up to that stature and deliver drama all night long,” said Dean Toole, president of Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA. “We’ve got heavy-hitters and action fighters from top to bottom, and that’s gonna make this a night of bareknuckle MMA that you’ll want to lock in on from the first fight all the way through the main event.”
The 32-year-old Bauman (7-3 MMA) was previously victorious at the first Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA event in June 2021, as he stopped Brandon Johnson in one round. Bauman has previous experience in Bellator and Fury FC and most recently earned a first round victory in June over John Poppie. Honolulu’s Pitolo (15-10 MMA) owns wins in both UFC and Bellator in a pro career that dates back to 2013.
The undercard will also see a highly-anticipated three-round heavyweight battle between Jacksonville, Florida’s Reggie “Black Dragon” Northrup (1-0 MMA), a linebacker for the DC Defenders of the XFL and professional MMA fighter, and Cody “The Reason” Herbert (3-3 MMA) of Crestview, Florida.
After stints with the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins, Northrup continued to pursue football playing for the Montreal Alouettes, Orlando Apollos, Tampa Bay Vipers and Houston Gamblers, before adding professional MMA to his repertoire. He made his MMA debut last December at iFC 6 – Jorge Masvidal’s iKon Fighting Championship – where he TKO’d Michael Johnson. As an amateur, Northrup defeated Mike Anderson, Josh Mercado, Kevin Church, Darius Kennedy (in bareknuckle bout by first-round knockout), and Jay Mitchell in 35 seconds by first-round knockout. A two-time Gamebred Fighting Championship veteran (events 2 and 3) Herbert is also a veteran of Bellator and Fusion Fight League.
Also on the night’s undercard, New Windsor, New York’s Irwing “Irwin” Armando Rivera (12-6 MMA) will face Jackson, Mississippi’s Joshua Weems (12-3 MMA) in a three-round bantamweight contest.
A Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt and a former Titan FC Bantamweight Champion, Rivera has also competed in UFC and Eagle Fighting Championship, as well as for Combate Americas. Known professionally as “Wide Open,” and now fighting out of Boca Raton, Florida, Weems has competed for the UFC, Gulf Coast MMA, Fury Fighting Championship, Dana White’s Contender Series and the B2 Fighting Series.
In another three-round featherweight scrap, Atlanta via D’Iberville, Mississippi’s Brandon Davis (14-11 MMA) will battle Bosnia and Herzegovina via Clarinda, Iowa’s Ago Huskic (8-7 MMA).
A UFC veteran, Davis is a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a brown belt in muay Thai. He is best known for appearing on Dana White’s Contender Series, where he earned his UFC contract by beating Austin Arnett. Known as “The Bosnian Dragon,” Huskic made his Gamebred FC debut in a losing effort against Ramon Ramos. He has also fought for the PFL, LFA, Extreme Challenge, Ascendancy Fighting Championship, OFC and HD MMA organizations.
Also scheduled is a three-round welterweight slugfest between Prior Lake, Minnesota’s Brandon Jenkins (16-10 MMA) and Anthony Njokuani (17-14 MMA) of Garland, Texas.
Jenkins found his passion for MMA watching his father, Joie Jenkins, having a bareknuckle fight with UFC legend David “Tank” Abbott as a boy. Citing a desire to be a “badass” like his dad, Jenkins has had nearly 80 fights between the combat sports of mixed martial arts, boxing, and kickboxing. He also had 31 fights on the amateur circuit before turning pro in 2013. Nigerian-American muay Thai specialist Njokuani has been a mixed martial artist and kickboxer since 2001, and has competed for the UFC, WEC, and ONE Championship. Njokuani began his martial arts training in taekwondo at the age of 17 before later moving on to muay Thai and then mixed martial arts at the age of 21.
In a three round bout scheduled for a catchweight of 140 pounds, Orlando, Florida’s Joseph “The Party” Penafiel (11-6 MMA) will take on Las Vegas’ Joey “El Cazador” Ruquet (9-4 MMA).
Penafiel lost his Gamebred FC debut at the fourth event to Rivera via unanimous decision. Looking to get into the win column, Penafiel is also a veteran of Cage Titans FC, Jorge Masvidal’s iKon Fighting Championship, Lights Out Championship, CES MMA, Atlas Fights, Island Fights and Southern Combat Sports. Ruquet was last seen winning a unanimous decision over Joe Murphy at the Combate Global event on July 1 of this year. He has also competed for Golden Boy Promotions, Combate Americas, FCOC and King of the Cage.
Lightweight action set for three rounds will see Venezuela’s Jhonasky “La Maquina” Sojo (13-4, MMA) face off against Minnesota’s Dan “The Hitman” Moret (15-8 MMA).
Sojo was victorious in his first seven pro MMA outings and would go on to success in both Titan FC and Fighting Force Promotions. He scored a pro boxing win over Kevin Liberator last November before a pair of MMA losses in 2023. Moret enjoyed runs with UFC and Bellator that included a 2018 challenge of Gilbert Burns. After winning his first Bellator bout, Moret dropped his subsequent two matchups as he looks to make a successful bareknuckle debut.
Also scheduled is a lightweight three-rounder between Juan “Wildchild” Alvarez of Pensacola, and Christopher Wingate of Yulee, Florida.
Opening the action is a catchweight battle of bareknuckle debuters Shazaib “King” Rind of Quetta, Pakistan, and Carlos “Diamante” Guerra.
