Overview
- Anthony Smith, who fought Friday in Santo Domingo, submitted Chase Sherman by first-round rear-naked choke to advance in the heavyweight bracket.
- Thiago Santos earned his first victory since 2021 with a first-round TKO of Guto Inocente to move on in the same field.
- Gamebred Fighting Championship returned from a long layoff with paired 16-man tournaments in heavyweight and lightweight under gloveless MMA rules, each offering a $500,000 grand prize.
- Quick finishes set the tone, with Ray Cooper III and Denis Petrov scoring first-round TKOs and several others ending bouts early by strikes or chokes.
- Fighters and analysts noted that bare-knuckle MMA changes the feel of punches and allows tighter grips for submissions, which helped drive the surge of early stoppages.