Alan Belcher and Roy Nelson are set to fight for the Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA heavyweight title, with Junior dos Santos waiting to compete against the victor for the championship.
Alan Belcher and Roy Nelson are geared up for the Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA heavyweight title on Oct. 28 in Jackson, Mississippi. Meanwhile, Junior dos Santos waits in the wings for the next championship match. Dos Santos revealed he had been promised by Jorge Masvidal, the promotion leader, that he was next in line for the belt. This follows Dos Santos’ triumph decision over Fabricio Werdum in the main event of Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA 5 this past Friday in Florida.
Dos Santos anticipates that the Gamebred belt fight will take place in January. Following this, he hopes for a boxing match to take place soon after. “[Belcher and Nelson] will fight in October, and the winner will fight me for the belt in January,” dos Santos explained. Belcher had left the world of MMA back in 2013 following back-to-back losses to Michael Bisping and Yushin Okami and returned to the ring as a boxer in 2021. Since then, he has an impressive record of 10 straight victories, nine of which were stoppages in both standard and bareknuckle bouts. Nelson, meanwhile, had lost a decision to “Cigano” back in 2010 but recently marked his bareknuckle MMA debut with a knock-out victory over Dillon Cleckler.
Dos Santos showed high praise for both Belcher and Nelson. He noted that Belcher might have an advantage due to his prior experience with bareknuckle fighting. However, he also acknowledged that Nelson is a tough adversary, expressing admiration for his fighting style and even suggesting that he might come out victorious. Regardless of who wins that bout, Dos Santos is anticipating his next match with a calm composure that he claimed hadn’t always been the case. “I said prior to this fight that this fight was going to be against my opponent only, that I wouldn’t be fighting myself like I’ve been doing since the beginning,” he said.
Moving forward, Santos has his eyes set on competing for the Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA title in early 2024. However, he also has a life-long dream of taking part in a traditional boxing match. “The main plan, even before this fight, was to box great boxing champions, to offer the MMA [world] a real chance to really beat these boxers,” Santos said, and highlighted the stark difference between the sports. Despite the increasing trend of MMA vs. boxing matches, he illustrated the far cry between the two, even when it comes to striking capabilities. Lastly, he expressed confidence in his ability to take on boxing champions due to his strong background in the sport.