For Danaa Batgerel life after the UFC will begin at Karate Combat 43. The Mongolian has been booked to face mixed martial artist turned bare knuckle boxer Freddy Masabo on December 15th in Las Vegas.
The event is set for the World Market Center and is stacked with UFC veterans. Batgerel will be competing for the first time since being released by the promotion earlier this year.
The Mongolian made a promising start to life in the UFC, winning three out of his first four fights. But Batgerel was handed his walking papers following a run of three straight defeats.
This will be his first time fighting outside of the UFC since 2019. It isn’t clear whether he has previous experience of karate but that doesn’t appear to be a prerequisite for competing on these cards.
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Boxing experience
Masabo is a Cuban who was on the national boxing team as an amateur. He enjoyed success in MMA, winning four and drawing one of his first five fights and had been booked to face Roger Gracie.
That bout fell though and he subsequently switched to bare knuckle boxing. Like Batgerel he will be making his karate debut in Las Vegas next month.
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UFC veterans
The main event features two UFC veteran who will be very familiar to MMA fans, and each other. Anthony Pettis and Benson Henderson fought each other twice with the former winning both.
Henderson will be out for revenge when they meet for the third time under a completely different ruleset. That fight headlines Karate Combat 43.
We cannot wait to see Anthony Pettis mix it up with Benson Henderson in the Karate Combat Pit December 15th in Las Vegas. 🥋 pic.twitter.com/VkAV7wGpN5
— Karate Combat (@KarateCombat) November 16, 2023
Black belt
One former mixed martial artists who definitely does have a background in karate is Raymond Daniels. The Glory and Bellator veteran is also competing on this card and has been booked to face Adrian Hadribeaj.
Daniels is a sixth dan black belt in Shotokan Karate. He also happens to be the husband of Colbey Northcutt, who is signed with ONE Championship just like her brother Sage Northcutt.
The rules for Karate Combat allow fighters five seconds in which to attack a grounded opponent. There are no submissions allowed and clinching is not permitted but shots to the head are perfectly legal.
