Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship has secured the services of a pair of veteran ex-UFC heavyweights to headline the upcoming BKFC 8 card in October.
Former UFC heavyweight title challengers Gonzaga and Silva will become the latest mixed martial artists to shed their gloves when they clash in October, joining the likes of Artem Lobov, Brad Pickett, Chris Leben, Johny Hendricks (and others) in crossing over to the newly re-popularised combat sport.
“I have a real love for boxing,” Gonzaga said to Knockout Radio when announcing the fight. “This is the best way to test myself, and there isn’t really a better event than that.”
It is surprising, perhaps, that the two Brazilian veteran never crossed paths during their careers, either in the cage or in the training room and the opportunity to pair the two veterans in the BKFC ring was too much for the organisation’s president, David Feldman, to ignore.
“I am very excited to have these two legends competing in the BKFC squared circle,” he said. “They have fought and beat some of the best fighters in the world and now they will fight each other. Tampa is a great fight market and we are thrilled to be able to host another event there. The fans in Tampa love BKFC and we plan on giving them another great show.”
Gonzaga is perhaps best known for his stunning high kick knockout of Mirko Cro Cop in the latter’s UFC debut in 2007, while ‘Bigfoot’ engaged in a classic battle against Mark Hunt in 2013 which topped many fight of the year polls. However, Silva’s recent form shows just one MMA win in his last ten bouts. Gonzaga last competed in MMA last year where he was defeated by Alexander Emilianenko in Russia.
