Fabricio Werdum, Junior dos Santos Discuss Bareknuckle Rematch at Gamebred FC 5

The rematch between former UFC heavyweight champions Junior dos Santos and Fabrício Werdum is attracting the attention of Brazilian fans.

The bareknuckle MMA fight, which will be the main event of Gamebred Fighting Championship 5, takes place almost 15 years after the first showdown and will be broadcast live on the Combate channel in Brazil on Friday. In the first confrontation, at UFC 90 in October 2008, dos Santos made his debut in the promotion and knocked out the favored Werdum, who was on the last fight of his contract and close to a title shot.

“Since I lost, the UFC made an unreasonable proposal and ended up forcing me to leave the promotion and restart my career at Strikeforce,” Werdum told Sherdog.com.

This first fight and its ensuing consequences ended up forging a great rivalry between Werdum and “Cigano. While dos Santos started a meteoric career in the UFC, earning six more victories that would culiminate in a first-round knockout of then champion Cain Velasquez in 2011, Werdum would have to start from scratch at Strikeforce, beating Mike Kyle, Antonio Silva and Fedor Emelianenko — a major turning point in his career.

Despite all the exchanges of barbs over the past 15 years, Werdum guarantees he won't take it to the ring in Friday's fight.

“I'm not worried about the past, I don't think about it. The business is 100% professional, zero personal, zero rivalry,” Werdum said. “Those who live in the past are a museum.”

Werdum’s stance was a surprise to dos Santos.

“In fact, the rivalry was created by Werdum himself, due to the way he portrayed himself in relation to me with controversial statements,” dos Santos told