Jordan Heiderman Stops Anthony Smith in Gamebred Return
Jordan Heiderman stopped Anthony Smith in the second round on Friday and moved on in Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA’s $500,000 heavyweight tournament. The finish came in the main event of Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA 12 at Pabellón de Karate in Santo Domingo, with the clip showing Heiderman in top position before the referee stepped in and raised his hand.
Smith was making his second appearance in the 16-fighter bracket. He had submitted Chase Sherman with a first-round rear-naked choke on April 10 and entered Friday at 38-22, looking for another step toward the tournament prize Jorge Masvidal’s promotion has attached to the heavyweight winner. The loss drops him to 38-23 and ends that run in the bracket.
Heiderman, a Nebraska heavyweight who has fought in the Professional Fighters League and on The Ultimate Fighter, already had a tournament win on his record. He stopped Ronny Markes with elbows in the second round at Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA 10 on May 1. Friday’s stoppage of Smith, the former UFC light heavyweight title challenger who retired from the promotion in 2025, is the biggest name he has beaten.
Heiderman was still breathing hard when the camera found him, a cut over his eye and his hand in the air. “So fing great,” he said. “I had to dig so fing deep for that bike. I had so many upper problems down for me on that one. I needed that thing.”
He kept going on what the fight took out of him. “You know how bad I got my heart. It, how hard it hits, how tough it is,” he said. “I had to dig so f***ing deep for that one.”
The comments match the look of the finish. Heiderman did not walk through Smith. He had to stay on top, keep the pressure, and earn the wave-off against a fighter who has spent most of his career at light heavyweight and only recently moved into this bare-knuckle heavyweight format.
Smith’s return also sat next to an open legal case. He has pleaded not guilty to felony domestic-violence charges, and a judge had allowed him to travel to the Dominican Republic for the bout. Gamebred had kept him on the card. None of that changed the result once the fight started.
The tournament math is simple from here. Smith’s path to the $500,000 prize is over. Heiderman advances, with the next opponent still unannounced and the final still several rounds of the bracket away. The heavyweight field was built around former UFC names, and one of the recognizable ones is now out after a second-round stoppage.
Smith’s first Gamebred win had looked like a clean restart. The Sherman submission put him through, and the promotion put him back in a main event six months later. Friday reversed that. A fighter who had not lost inside this tournament lost the fight that was supposed to keep him in it.
Heiderman’s next assignment is the only piece still missing. He has now stopped Markes and Smith inside the same bracket, both in the second round, and both on the ground. The prize at the end is unchanged. The man who had been the name on the poster is no longer in the way.
