Is This Where UFC Careers Go To Die?

If you're an MMA fighter then getting to the UFC is the dream. It's the biggest show, has the most eyes and you'll face the toughest competition which is pretty much all a professional fighter wants. But even for those that become legends or just fan favourites, that chapter will eventually close and when it has many have gone on to find a new stage and sometimes a new version of themselves. Across the last few years many promotions have appeared offering a second chapter or in some cases a graveyard. Where we've seen our favourite fighters reborn or find redemption and for others truly reach the end of the road. I'm Bailey from MMA on Point and make sure to check out the official UFC gear through our link in the description below. Using code Point 10 for 10% off all products in the EU store and rep your favourite fighters with the UFC store. One of the first promotions to appear that offered a second chance to these kind of fighters offered arguably an even tougher test than the UFC itself. Back in 2018, after years of unsanctioned fights on the underground scene, bare knuckle boxing was set to make a comeback. Way, way back in 1889, bare knuckle was outlawed by commissions simply due to the fact it was comparatively brutal compared to the boxing gloves that had just been invented. And from there on, all the biggest fights took place wrapped in leather. But BKFC finally managed to challenge this. With Dave Feldman at its helm in June 2018, they put on the first sanctioned event in the US in over 100 years. Now, when you're starting a new promotion, it's already hard to get people to tune in. So they had the smart idea of taking existing stars and adding them to their roster. And including former UFC fighters was part of the plan from day one. With their very first event including Beck Rawlings, Joey Beltran, Johnny Bedford, and even a former UFC heavyweight champion who won the title way back in 2002. Rico Rodriguez. You have to be smart not to get cut, not to break your hand. These are things that you never really think about when you're fighting MMA. Of course, though, right, these weren't the biggest names, but every single ex-UFC fighter on that card ended up winning, which made fans also realize that these secondary chapters weren't just so fighters could keep fighting. They offered these unique, feel-good moments for fans who thought a lot of these guys were just done. By 2021, BKFC had picked up more traction, and they also recruited one of their first big ex-UFC stars, There was a lot of big decision making that went into me leaving the UFC and heading over to BKFC. But I'm super excited, obviously. I just feel that, you know, we do need to be compensated more, especially in comparison to other professional athletes. The only problem was that, well, she was always more of a grappler. And now she wasn't going to be able to use any of that. I feel like in MMA, you can get away with being good at everything. But when you're boxing, you have to be great at one thing. Her first fight was against Britton Hart at BKFC Knuckle Mania. And they were treating her like a superstar, giving her all the promotion as their hot new signing. All she had to do now was win. These girls went toe-to-toe, firing shots, Paige showing no fear of the no-gloves scenario, but it wasn't exactly the performance they were hoping for. Now working off of the back foot, stepping, Hart lands the right hand. It had been scrappy from both women, and PVZ didn't look too banged up either, but in her big debut and new promotion, she failed to do enough. Boom! She came back five months later against Rachel Ostovich, another former UFC fighter, and PVZ was given all the hype coming in. These ladies went toe-to-toe again and both landed a ton of shots, but it was Rachel that was looping overhands and catching Paige retreating. It had been a chance for reinvention for Paige, who were most surprised it accepted BKFC's offer in the first place, but it was Rachel that was given the win. And with that, Page stepped out of the squared circle, 0-2, but probably with a bit more fans' respect for slugging it out. The same could be said of another ex-UFC fighter who everyone thought was done, well, two of them, in fact, firstly in Big Ben Rothwell. After starting his career in 1999 and fighting for 23 years, 14 of them in the UFC, he was finally let go at the end of 2021. Now, many MMA fans thought that would be it for Big Ben. Who'd been very hit and miss towards the end, but the following year, he found himself in BKFC. This was a man who had already absorbed a ton of punishment, been finished multiple times, but sure, try bare knuckle, why not? Well, it seemed to be his calling, because he started running through BKFC heavyweights. Looking bigger than ever, he just destroyed O'Bannon in 19 seconds. The guy looked like he'd been hit by a freight train, okay, and Ben started a conquest of BKFC, including stopping another former UFC heavyweight, Todd Duffy, in the first round, another guy that was looking for redemption, stepping into bare knuckle, and had his dreams absolutely crushed. It's a traditional style. Todd was already banged up with an injury and Ben sent him to the MMA graveyard. All of this led to a chance to fight for the BKFC heavyweight title, something he'd never won in the UFC, and he faced off against Mick Terrell in January 2025, now a 26-year veteran of the sport. Looking like a grizzly, mean old Santa Claus, Ben stalked Mick with his weird reaching style and absolutely flatlined him. Honestly, the power was kind of insane and it looked like he'd really found his place outside of the UFC. But there was another vet who'd been doing the same thing. Former UFC champion who'd been knocked out more times than you could count and was still trying to reinvent himself, Andre the Pitbull Arlovski. After losing four straight and back-to-back UFC fights and after being in the promotion for 23 years, Arlovski was finally let go. He first went to dirty boxing before he got a fight at BKFC 76 in 2025 against Josh Copeland. At this point though, everyone thought Arlovski's chin was made of Swiss cheese, but he battled through four rounds before mincing up the face of Copeland, forcing the ref to stop it. It was enough and with his name value and Ben Rothwell's, and the history between them, having fought back in 2008 where Arlovski finished Ben in affliction, and they then went on to rematch in the UFC in 2019 where Arlovski won a decision, Andre was now going to get a shot at the title against Ben and this was about the fourth point in his career that everyone thought he was done. These guys were throwing bombs at each other. Arlovski was not playing it safe and using his slick boxing and hand speed and he started to bust up the face of Ben with sharp shots. Rothwell started to look like a horror movie victim who kept lumbering forward but the doctors had no choice to stop it, crowning Andre the new BKFC champion. And what a story it had been for Arlovski to come back after all those losses. Obviously Rothwell had done great to get to that point as well and for such a brutal sport as BKFC you'd think aging UFC fighters would probably want to avoid taking more damage but no, quite the opposite. These guys love to fight, and for many of them, it was a chance to see some of our favorite fighters and legends really show what they're made of. Another UFC fan favorite, though, who'd come in with a ton of momentum and stumbled against higher-level competition was Platinum Mike Perry. In MMA, he was a brick-walled brawler who KO'd some UFC competition, but when it came to the nuances of the sport, he'd been outplayed by guys like Alan Joban. BKFC though seemed right up Perry's alley where his style would be absolutely perfect and he arrived in February 2022 and And started making statements. He got the perfect opponent first of all as well. Let me bang bro Julian Lane. And the two of them got into a cage side after Perry's debut was announced. That got everyone's attention. And Mike Perry was definitely in the right promotion. And he went out there in his debut and beat up Julian across five rounds. Perry was a wall of violence, kept walking forward and throwing shots. He'd ended his UFC career just one and four in his last five fights, but it seemed like he indeed had found a new lease of life. And next up, a massive fight was booked against MVP. After losing to Logan Storley in Bellator, MVP wanted some new challenges, and although his MMA career was far from done at this point, the matchup stylistically with Perry was absolutely intriguing. And many MMA fans tuned in to watch him go at it, and Mike found the perfect shot. He drilled MVP right down the middle, breaking through that evasive style, and that single punch gave Mike Perry more credibility than he'd earned in his last UFC fights. MVP stayed on the outside landing shots as Mike walked him down, and it was close and quite controversial, but Mike Perry took the win over the 20-2 MVP, and it was only up from there. Next, he got the former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, who also after his UFC run was done and wanted to look for another promotion to start a second lease of life, but it would be his unmaking. Perry, now a walking tank of bare-knuckle destruction. Ships and hook to the body. He just pressured Luke non-stop who has always needed space and distance to operate and was chewing up his face with big mean right hands. Eventually the damage was too much he quite literally smashed his teeth in and Luke was forced to quit making Mike 3-0 in the promotion. Perry had gone from an angry UFC alumni with fans remembering his memes more than his actual performances to actually making a name for himself in a new combat sport and he was about to be given a title and a new nickname to match up with Eddie Alvarez When they fought for the King of Violence belt. For the inaugural BKFC King of Violence title. This is about who's the toughest guy out here. Who's going to be the King of Violence. It was also another chance for Mike to be a UFC champion. Something he'd never gotten close to in the promotion. And again, he took it to Eddie from the opening bell. Mike was just walking through punches like an absolute zombie. He marched Eddie down and mushed up his face. And the corner called it quits after two rounds. Declaring Perry the King of Violence. Mike, at that point, had truly surpassed his UFC achievements, and backed it up with two more KO wins over UFC vets, Thiago Alves and Jeremy Stephens, whose attempts to reinvent themselves sadly did not go their way against Platinum. The whole BKFC run also set things up for Mike in the world of boxing, and it's fair to say that for him the promotion had completely reinvented his career. Other guys like Chad Mendes and John Dodson also deserve a shout out. They did great things in the UFC but moved over to BKFC and Chad had some big fights and Dodson just went 4-0 and while I'm writing this video on the 18th of October has another fight so I guess that's how this one went. Also can't forget the time Conor's teammate Artem Lobov came over to fight Paulie Malignaggi in BKFC. It's been a good time all around. While bare-knuckle boxing has been around for hundreds of years, one thing that got many people into martial arts, especially in the 90s, were video games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat and an abundance of action films with the likes of Van Damme or obviously the GOAT, Jackie Chan. Bloodsport, though, for example, has stuck in many people's minds. The Kumite, the Showdown Tournament, and I think it was in that spirit that Karate Kombat was created. Let's have only what people say are the fun parts of martial arts. In a pit, in a crazy venue, let's just see what happens. The UFC have never done anything like this. Maybe the Ultimate Fighter Tournament is as close as they've ever gotten, and that is a pretty big jump. That being said, I will say it is kind of weird then just how many of the tough alumni have found themselves competing in today's 90s martial arts promotion. Starting with... James Vick. Now, Vick was on season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter. He got to the semifinals, but then in the UFC, kind of unexpectedly went on a big win streak. Got to 9-1 as a 6'3 lightweight, the Tex-ecutioner. Problem is, Gaethje knocked him out, and then it all fell apart. He lost a bunch in a row and got cut in October 2019. He was, at one point though, this fun, up-and-coming, promising contender with a unique style. He was the first former UFC fighter to appear in karate combat. He opened the gates, so to speak. He was on KC36 against George Perez, and he almost fought a bit too karate, like he wanted to live up to what the promotion wanted. If you notice, when he strikes, he's throwing the techniques but he's already backing out before they even land. He just fought like a guy who'd been knocked out a bunch before, really, as well, and when he lost the decision, he was pretty pissed. James Vick is not happy, he... Storms up the side of the pit and then thinks better of himself. But he came back for another time at a big show in Miami and this time was a little more switched on but still when his chin got touched he was wobbling. Straight back into it lovely surging uppercut with the backhand. He took the decision that time around, but unfortunately he'd be on the receiving end of another viral highlight reel KO against Rafael Alves, another UFC fighter who'd had a hit and miss time in the promotion and thought, you know, I'll just go over to karate combat and do some crazy ----. It's a brawl fight! That thing landed like a thunderbolt, and Vic's time in karate combat would come to an end unfortunately the same way his UFC 1 kind of had. Still, the Tex-ecutioner had a hell of a run back in the day. Alves himself actually went to 3-0 in karate combat, so at least someone was having a good time. Meanwhile though, another Ultimate Fighter prospect had caught the attention of karate combat Now, at first, smiling Sam Alvey made a name for himself on Tough Season 16 as a heavy-handed southpaw, and that power kept him alive in the UFC for years, where he'd still be putting away contenders, until age finally caught up with him and he just had one of the worst losing streaks of all time in eight. He was still smiling, though, and must have been smiling even harder when karate combat called. Off the back of an epic losing streak, Alves showed up as a brawler in a karate promotion and started knocking guys out. He went on to win the heavyweight title, which also was kind of strange coming from a UFC middleweight, but he was in full dad era, feeding the kids, showing up happy and knocking out dudes in karate combat. It became a bit of a meme in the community, at least I thought it was, until they matched him up with Tyrone Spong, one of the most feared punchers in combat sports of all time. And don't forget, Sam had just lost eight in a row in the UFC. Not be telling to go to the body yet. Great shot. Through from dude. What actually happened though is Spong kind of just walked towards him all fight not throwing much until the third when this happened. It was a beautiful jab and ducking left hand that was absolutely perfect and with that he defended his title yet again against a glory kickboxing and boxing champion. The man had lost eight fights. It was only when another UFC fighter showed up that Sam did start having problems. This was the heavyweight division and Sam, okay, just wasn't one, but Rebellious Despain absolutely was. He's a massive six foot seven from a traditional martial arts background and And he came in the UFC just 4-0, three of those wins in 10 seconds or less. But after losing two lackluster decisions, they ended his contract and they let him go. But Karate Combat immediately said, we'll have some of that. Just two months later, he was booked to fight at KC51 and quickly became one of their biggest stars. Stacking up six wins in total in the space of just a year and a half, Rebellious was given a shot at the title against Sam Alvey in what seemed like a fever dream matchup. How unreal it is that in big 2025, he is the king of kings here at Karate Combat. Eight fight losing streak to conclude his UFC tenure. Now rides a six fight unbeaten streak. The revival is so improbable for him, which are weird and different. Oh, there. Oh! The power difference was too much though, and even though he looked completely out of it after that shot, he still wanted to fight on. For Alvi, it was a bittersweet way to end an insane career resurgence. He took that karate combat offer and just ran with it, proving he had a ton of fight left. Despain, however, used that as a catapult to get back into the UFC and get his MMA career back on track. And so far since, he's gone 2-0, but also recently barely beat another guy on a massive losing streak in Taito Iwasa. And one last tough alumni that also found himself in the karate combat pit was Uriah Hall, owner of one of the most sickening knockouts in UFC history, which put a heap load of expectations on him to win the whole show. He lost to Gastelum in the finals and then had a sort of hit-and-miss run in the UFC, sometimes turning in great performances, sometimes not being able to pull the trigger, finishing his career with 10 wins and 9 losses. He went over to boxing after that and competed on two Jake Paul cards before Karate Combat called him over in late 2025. He got past Marcus Perez in his debut, but he didn't deliver the KO finish everyone was always holding their breath for during a Uriah Hall fight. But a few months later, against Jaden Younad, he pulled out a prime-time finish. Oh, it was a tasty spinning back kick, and that got him a matchup with the legend Sam Alvey. UFC vet versus UFC vet, both duking it out in the pit. Fastest growing casino, and Alvey starting faster than primetime. Sam came out swinging, taking it to Uriah with no breaks, landing looping shots, and taking it inside, but Hall was firing back. Now the determination from Alvey as he stumbled. These two could still put on an entertaining scrap and it was Alvey who came out on top yet again. Maybe he should have just skipped MMA and done karate this whole time. Guy's a freaking two-weight world champion. Either way, karate combat has done its job serving as a veterans league for UFC fighters, but that's not the only place a lot of them have ended up. YouTube boxing was a strange era, okay, and although it's not really gone away off the back of KSI and the Paul brothers putting on the gloves, we've got the Misfits promotion in an attempt to turn that boom into a regular event series. Now, over time, they started growing their roster and eventually started looking for former MMA fighters to step onto their platform. They needed someone who was a free agent, could put on a show, was already a star in combat sports, and with the promotions roots in the UK, they also probably wanted someone local. It just so happened that Darren Till ticked all those boxes. Till had a surging undefeated streak in the UFC all the way to a title shot, but after losing to Tyron Woodley, he would only win one more fight across the next four years, changing weight classes and ending on a three-fight losing streak. Darren thought he was better than this, though. He'd occasionally been frustrated with wrestlers just taking him down, and also both wanted to prove himself as well as make some money. The union with Misfits was perfect, and what really gave him a boost was getting placed in a main event matchup with Tyson Fury's brother, Tommy. It was a merging of both boxing and MMA fans and influencers, but ultimately Tommy pulled out when Till joked he might just start throwing elbows and kicks if he was losing. Fury was replaced with Anthony Taylor, with Darren saying, quote, He's ******* ----, what the **** have I signed up to? He then showed up in Manchester and made an emphatic debut. Warner did a great job cleaning him up. Despite coming from MMA, Darren showed off some great boxing skill and a will to finish the fight. It resonated with old UFC fans and the newer YouTube scene, and he was on his way to becoming their new poster boy in the promotion. Misfits had a legit fighter on their hands, and so they needed competitive fights. That's when Darren the Dentist Stewart got involved. An MMA knockout machine whose UFC career also hadn't panned out until it took a decision win there. All this experimentation, though, led to the night of Misfits 22 in August 2025. Till was booked to fight the former UFC champion Luke Rockhold, who was also trying his hand at everything now he was out of the UFC, and the card would also feature another absolute legend, Tony Ferguson. For Tony, after putting together one of the most vicious, violent, and entertaining runs in UFC history, blending unorthodox striking with deadly submissions, carrying him to a 12-fight win streak, he'd sadly ended that run in the worst way possible. Dropping eight fights in a row where he just could not seem to find anywhere near the form that had carried him to the top. Before Till and Rockhold had their showdown, Tony was making his debut, and there were a lot of MMA fans out there very, very concerned what that might actually look like. He was going up against Salt Pappy, which as far as influencer boxers go, was one of the best they had to offer, at least I'm told. Now, on paper, Tony should beat this guy, but after eight losses and several by KO, Anything could happen. Had you seen any of your opponent's fights before this opportunity came up or? No, no, no. I don't watch sports. I'm busy doing them. And I've been doing the same sport type of mentality and building it stronger for 35 years. What do you think your best asset is over your opponent going into this fight with all that in mind? Tenacity. I'm not an influencer. This is what I do. Oh, it's this club. Tony pressed the action, landed tight combinations, but Saltpappy was testing that chin with big shots. In a moment of glory though Tony pressed on and with a barrage of shots against the ropes that got him his first win in what felt like 10 years. More and more success with the lead right hand. It was impossible not to feel good for Tony Ferguson that night. Even if you weren't a big fan of Misfits as a promotion, they'd given Tony a chance at redemption and that's exactly what he had enacted. The main event would be up next though and it was Till versus Rockhold. Two former UFC middleweights, big names in the sport, the build-up was massive and who's that cheeky chappy doing the interviews? When you look into each other's eyes right now, what do you see? Just an old frail guy. It's not really about anything, is it? You got some confidence because you beat up two bums, huh? Till had already proven his boxing skill, but Luke had been champion in the UFC, OK? Something Darren had failed to achieve. A win for either guy would, in some ways, mean redemption, though. Luke for trying to get his mojo back, and Till finally beating a UFC champion. And Till proved he could hurt him early. In a battle of southpaws, Darren appeared to have the better backhand and he also had the speed and movement to catch Luke. Then he came out in round two and looked even better. And then just when he had the misfits world eating out of the palm of his hand, he unleashed a truly magnificent combination to end the night. Darren Till could box, okay? It was a massive KO on a massive night, and it catapulted Till to the very top of the Misfits world. Without a doubt, their new biggest star. After he completed Misfits, though, he decided he'd done enough there and wanted another level of challenge, which leads us back around to BKFC, where Darren joined all those former UFC stars and kept delivering finishes there as well. Oh my god, what a beautiful sniper left hand Darren Till has got, eh? Aaron Chalmers got KO'd in the second round as the Till victory lap continued. That set him up with an even bigger fight against another former UFC star, Yoel Romero. The absolute hulking Cuban monster who challenged for the belt multiple times. His run came to an end after losing to Adesanya in a very technical and what a lot of you fans would call boring fight. Yeah, he even went to Bellator after that. But at this point, he'd been out on the bare knuckles scene as well. Just defying age yet again. You're going to America. The power was still insane. And Romero had shown he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. And with all Till had been doing as well, this was an intriguing matchup that grabbed fans' attention and promised violence. It was a tentative battle at first. No gloves, two big power punchers. And Romero was just absorbing the left hands of Till. And when they got into it, they just started firing at each other. Till ended up taking a decision though after a tough fight for both men and he'd remained undefeated since leaving the UFC as Darren Till 2.0 having beaten UFC legends all over the place. After losing his title shot to Woodley he'd made that statement about looking up to guys like Bisping who were around for a long time and no matter what happened the losses whatever it was all about the journey and Till still had plenty left to give in his career. He's also made a ton of money has doubled his respect and isn't done yet. Tony Ferguson and his Misfits career had also continued to pan out great. He's racked up multiple wins now and has been fully embraced by the community as well as given himself another lease of life in his career. Safe to say the resurrection of El Cucuy has both been fun and heartwarming to watch. And recently, Misfits have just added MVP Michael Venom Page to their roster, someone else who the UFC let go of after frustrating performances and after his BKFC stint, he's trying to continue to test himself in other combat sports. Whether Misfits is actually a test or a better platform for him to join than the UFC though is up for debate, but the promotion needs stars, especially with Till now gone, and MVP just might be that for them. Misfits are always looking for the biggest name for their buck, but there are other promotions out there that have embraced a whole bunch of aging UFC fighters, almost like a retirement home for legends to give them somewhere else to fight. Only problem is, this might be one of the more brutal ways than any we've covered so far. I'm talking about Jorge Masvidal's game-bred FC. Considering where Masvidal got his own start in combat sports, bare-knuckle boxing, on the back streets of Miami, it's not surprising he'd come up with something a little out of the ordinary. In April 2021, just before his rematch with Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title, he announced he was starting an MMA promotion. Ah, a bare-knuckle MMA promotion. First of all, though, you've got to find a bunch of hardcore MFers who actually want to sign up to do that, because MMA in four ounces is one thing, but when you're adding bare knuckle ground and pound, that's where things really start to get nasty. Lucky for Jorge, though, it turned out there were a bunch of MMA vets who didn't mind at all taking the gloves off, and early on he managed to pull in Jason Knight, who'd already fought McGregor's teammate Artem Lobov in BKFC, and he took on everyone's favourite MMA felon, Charles Crazy Horse Bennett. That is actually pretty good matchmaking, to be fair. It was the headliner for the first show as well, which isn't the biggest draw, and not kind of a thing that's going to bring in a ton of UFC fans, but you know what? It was a good start. Crazy Horse came out hands down and cracked night early before the kid sunk in the rear naked choke. Oh, oh, oh! Gamebred FC, though, didn't stop there and continued to recruit a ton of aging legends, starting with a man who UFC fans fell in love with for two simple reasons. Number one, his insane KO power, and two, his big old belly. Roy 'Big Country' Nelson was on season 10 of Tough, where he even beat up Kimbo Slice, someone Jorge had known for years and used to train with. So I guess he cut him some slack there in bringing him into Gamebred. But once Roy was in the UFC, he went on a KO streak, looping his massive overhand into giant heavyweight chins and then rubbing his belly like Father Christmas after his turkey dinner. His UFC career was hit and miss towards the end, though, and his contract expired after a decision loss to Volkov in 2017, and he just wasn't re-signed. By the time he'd gone to Bellator and had been snapped up by Gamebred, though, he was on a five-fight losing streak. Gone were the years of the big belly overhand. He'd been looking slow and more grizzled than ever, but Masvidal gave him a chance at redemption. Bare Knuckle is definitely a different game changer versus when you have gloves on. At Gamebred 4, he was booked against Dylan Klecker, and old-school MMA fans tuned in to see if Big Country could pull it off one more time. I'm loving it here. Oh man, he still had it. That was his first win in frickin' six years. Thank God for Gamebred giving Mr. Burger King another chance. Did you ever get to talk to Burger King about a sponsorship? Good question. You go to little gloves, and then you go to no gloves, like distances. Roy, though, wasn't the only aging heavyweight Jorge gave a chance at redemption, too. For the next show, he managed to book two legends and two former UFC champions in Junior Dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum. Both men in their UFC careers won the title, and both did it beating one of the GOATs of the division, Cain Velasquez. JDS had left the UFC on a four-fight losing streak, looking older and older and getting KO'd more and more. As fans, it was hard to watch at the end. And Werdum actually left on a win over Gustafsson with a performance of the night, but just decided he didn't want to stay and just went elsewhere and was done with his UFC journey. Two of them were booked to face each other in a real MMA legends match, with JDS desperate for his first win in four years, and with Werdum returning from a no contest in the PFL against Henan Ferreira. But apart from that, still probably feeling quite good about himself. What he was probably not feeling too good about, though, was maybe the fact these two had fought before, almost 20 years ago, in 2008, where JDS had select him in the first round. Still, for old-school MMA fans, this was a blast of nostalgia mixed a little bit with reality that these two men were well past their prime. We weren't sure what was going to happen, and the two heavyweights fought carefully at first, but at the end of the first round, JDS found Vadum's chin. This is a visceral fighting art. This isn't a sport. There it is. There it is. Junior then continued to pick him apart with the superior boxing, with Vadum unable to land cleanly. And then JDS was just popping Vadum's eye with a stiff jab and just destroyed it. I mean, bare knuckle MMA is no joke, but that has got to be one of the worst eye injuries I've ever seen. When it was all said and done, JDS took the split decision and broke a five-fight losing streak. Which was definitely a feel-good moment for JDS fans who'd watched him just get KO'd over and over again in the UFC. The man still had it and still looked as slick as ever. Jorge, though, took it one step further. After beating Vadum, he offered JDS a shot at the inaugural heavyweight title. A chance for the man to get strapped up with a championship for the first time since 2012 and against another former UFC vet, Alan Belcher. For that belt right there, the game-bred... Junior, despite his age, still had his movement and footwork and was able to stay elusive on the outside and start picking them apart, which was really just an excellent style for Bare Knuckle, to be honest. Both land there. Junior stuck him coming in and Alan's bleeding now. Alan kept stalking him, trying to find him, but JDS showed he was still elite on the feet. Allen's wading in, but he has to go, yeah. Junior eventually as well took Belcher down, and despite the BJJ credentials of the man, absolutely mauled him on the ground. If he gets your feet under you, it might slide. Junior doing some real damage. Very temporary position right there, but Allen gets up. Big left hook on the exchange wall. Allen's going to get up. After 13 years, JDS was once again a world champion. This was a guy the fanbase had counted out almost entirely, but he'd been given a chance in Gamebread to keep fighting and managed to turn the final chapter of his career around. There are a few other UFC fighters to mention here as well. Hector Lombard was also another UFC guy who had some great success in BKFC, winning the title there, albeit a bit controversially, against Joe Riggs. Before then ending up in GameBread FC, where he again just smashed through his opponent in bare-knuckle MMA. We're going to see it right now. Ref, he's out, he's tapping. Lombard had lost six in a row in the UFC and arguably did better outside of the promotion in bare knuckle and random shows than he ever did despite being pretty hyped on his UFC arrival. One other person to mention in GameBread is probably Anthony Smith. He'd retired in the UFC after getting stopped in the first round back in April 2025 after just a career of wars and taking some beatings where it looked like he'd been completely out of it in some fights. He got a spot in the Gamebred Heavyweight Tournament and actually pulled out a win over another UFC guy, Chase Sherman. To really stop him, it's going to take a lot. That performance made it seem like perhaps he had indeed retired too early and that in Gamebred he was going to find another chance to show, you know, he wasn't done, but then the news broke he was facing some serious unresolved criminal allegations. He was arrested in August and was pleading not guilty to four felony charges. You can look up the full details yourself, but it's not great. While all this was going on, he competed anyway against Jordan Heidemann and he was allowed by the judge to travel for the fight. But it turned into an absolute beating. Anthony Smith's face is a mess. This is looking bad for Anthony Smith. He's got to do something. There's a stoppage. Make of that what you will, but Lionheart's Gamebred comeback was stopped short, making it 18 times he'd been finished in his MMA career. And who knows if he'll come back or what happens next. There is also one other route some ex-UFC fighters have taken that is definitely worth mentioning, and that's not specifically with any promotion. That's just to find opportunities in the world of boxing. Pay disparity between the two sports has always been part of the discussion, and this seemed to be a place where UFC fighters could finally cash in on their name value and make some big bucks. How well that went, though, depends on who you ask. First person to mention is Tyron Woodley. After losing his welterweight title, the Chosen One never actually won another UFC fight. To see someone go from having an unbeatable aura to freezing in fights and refusing to let his hands go was a bit of a strange thing to watch, but it does happen. And in his final UFC fight against Vincente Luque, he did come out guns blazing, but ended up getting finished in the first round because of it. What most people didn't expect after that, though, is a jump to one of the biggest stages outside of the UFC in a boxing boxing match with Jake Paul. Now, on paper, everyone was expecting Woodley to win. He had been a UFC champion, had years and years more experience. But again, the frozen one showed up against Jake, and he was outworked to a decision by the YouTube boxer. He was adamant, though, that it was a mistake, that he could finish the kid if he was given another chance and even got a tattoo as part of some humiliation ritual to book a rematch. Which he didn't even get. It was given to Tommy Fury at first, but that guy pulled out again. So Woodley stepped in looking at a chance for redemption, and it could not have gone worse for him the second time around. Yeah, hate him or love him, that loss stung MMA fans quite a bit on principle, but at least he'd built and aimed for himself outside of the UFC and with the MVP boxing promotion because of that. He was given one more chance and this time against another UFC legend, Anderson Silva. The GOAT Silva had dominated the UFC for years, defended the title more than anyone in history, finished literally everyone and had just looked untouchable, let alone unbeatable. It was Chris Weidman who put an end to the streak and then an end to his career in the rematch, really, when the Spider snapped his leg on the All-American's shin. Horrific. And after that, Anderson won just one of his next nine UFC fights. Really a bittersweet end to an absolutely legendary UFC run. After losing to Uriah Hall, he announced his retirement. And to be honest, considering he was talking about how his kids don't want to see him fight anymore, most of us thought that was it for the Spider. But no, he was about to step into another combat sports realm and show he still had plenty of the class that made him a champion. Silva actually had two pro boxing bouts way back in 1999 and 2005, but returning to the sport in 2021, who the hell knew what he was going to look like? He was matched up with an aged boxing legend in a vet versus vet match against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and showed he still had his movement, feints, and was even doing some showboating, taking the decision win after eight rounds. His defense had been on point, he was just as entertaining as ever with his taunts, and suddenly it seemed like Silva might actually be able to have a second career in this new spectacle boxing world. He then did MMA fans even more favors, sparking out Tito Ortiz as he reinvented himself as a boxer. Two men, two men, this way. And that had taken just about two minutes and was Silva's first finish in nine years since he TKO'd Stephan Bonner in what seemed like an entire Middle Earth age ago. Around this time, Jake Paul was looking for more legends with big names to add to his resume. And at this point, it seemed like Anderson Silva was about to find redemption by also handing Paul his first loss and ending this YouTuber boxer fever dream fantasy. But by then, Jake had actually developed quite substantially and he took it to Silva who just couldn't seem to land on him. Anderson started pressuring and landed some shots here and there, and considering he was 47 years old at this point, he honestly didn't do too badly. But in the eighth round, Jake entered with a nice combo, starting at the body and finished with his overhand, and it sat the legend down. Paul took the decision, adding another legend to his resume, but we could at least appreciate the fact that Anderson got paid for that fight and had still made a good show in at almost double Paul's age. That brings us back round to Tyron Woodley, because after both had fought Jake, they were still looking to box, and a matchup between the two former UFC champions made sense on the next MVP card when Jake fought Anthony Joshua. With Anderson even older now and Woodley still yet to find the win, there was a lot of intrigue around the prospect of both of them boxing, and this just felt like a fun matchup. But it turned into another redemption moment for the Spider. Anderson was actually 50 years old now, but he still looked faster and more fluid against Tyron. And the finish was just beautiful. Psyche him out by touching his leg and launching an uppercut for the finish. Come to that a little bit. It had all been downhill since the leg break of Weidman, but the Spider continued to deliver knockouts into his old age, and we loved it. If there's a category for goats, over the age of 50, 100% Anderson Silva is still that guy. For a long time, the UFC felt like the final destination. But now, when that chapter ends, fighters have more places to go. Bare-knuckle fights at BKFC, karate combat, influencer boxing, or even something crazy like bare-knuckle MMA at Gamebred. Even wrestling is now an avenue for these fighters over at RAF. We all thought Colby Covington would never win a UFC belt. Well, he's now got a belt just by wrestling dudes. These shows are appearing more often in the stories of former UFC fighters because a familiar name can bring an audience with it, while a new rule set gives that fighter something different to prove. Of course, the results aren't all the same. Some fighters have found a second act, a new title, or a moment that reminded people what made them special. Others have struggled to find that next version of themselves. Maybe that's why the graveyard of MMA fits. Sometimes these promotions are where careers fade away. Other times, they're where a fighter gets one more chance to come back to life. So these days, when the UFC chapter closes, is it really the end or just the start of something new?