ormer UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub nearly fought in Jorge Masvidalās bare-knuckle MMA promotion.
āBig Brownā has been out of the cage for nearly a decade now. Brendan Schaub last competed at UFC 181 in December 2014, against then-heavyweight contender Travis Browne. That night saw the future podcaster handed a first-round knockout loss. Post-fight, Schaub retired after urging from his friend Joe Rogan.
For almost a decade now, Brendan Schaub hasnāt been lured back to the cage. However, the former UFC heavyweight contender was approached to fight in Jorge Masvidalās Gamebred Fighting Championships. The bare-knuckle MMA league was founded in 2021, and has seen the likes of Junior dos Santos compete. Well, it seems that āBig Brownā couldāve become the next former UFC athlete to fight for Jorge Masvidal. Speaking in a recent interview with MMA Fighting , Brendan Schaub opened up on talks with the bare-knuckle promotion. There, the former fighter-turned-podcaster admitted that he had no intention of fighting ever again.
However, when approached, Brendan Schaub did sit down with Jorge Masvidal. According to the podcaster, he threw out an insane number in negotiations, not expecting āGamebredā to accept. However, he did. The catch is that Schaub would have to fight someone like the aforementioned Junior dos Santos, which doesnāt interest him.
āWe had Jorge Masvidal and his manager Dean [Toole] on and I work for them now doing commentating but thatās how that came about. They offered me a fight,ā Brendan Schaub said. āIām like bare-knuckle MMA? Theyāre like yeah. I was like you donāt have enough money, thereās no way. He goes, āGive us a number.ā I gave them an outlandish number and he was like dead serious, just looked me in the eye and goes āOK.ā Iām like what?ā (h/t MMA Fighting)
He continued, āFor a second Iām like shit, Iāll just hit the road now get some road work in now, letās get going, thatās an insane amount of money. I just canāt force myself to do it. At 41, my kids, I canāt take another blow to the head. Iām good. I donāt need to be Elon Musk or āCowboyā Cerrone rich. Iām good. Iām good where Iām at. Theyāre like, āFor that number youāre going to have to fight [Junior dos Santos] or Derrick Lewis.ā Iām like no, hard pass. I donāt need those problems.ā
Schaub was a decent fighter but heās psychologically broken from the Rogan talk.
I feel like the Travis Browne fight really did a number on him.
The two men who come to mind when you think about rich people.