Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal is a 35-15-0 UFC fighter with over 6.2 million social media followers and 817,000 YouTube subscribers. Masvidal most recently lost to the Welterweight champion, 19-1, Kamaru Usman, in April. Despite the loss, it hasn’t stopped Jorge from building his personal brand. Since he KO’d MMA veteran Ben Askren in 5 seconds, Masvidal became the first-person MMA fans thought of when someone said ‘super necessary’. This week’s blog will explore the initiatives that Masvidal has to build his brand and how this impacts his marketability.
Gamebredfights.com
Jorge is known for being unapologetic and wearing his heart on his sleeve, which stems from growing up as a street fighter. He often portrays this on social media, which has led him to get shadow banned and de-monetised for explicit content relating to gory footage from street fights, sparring, and other content.
Masvidal took the initiative to build his own platform, Gamebredfights.com, a dedicated behind the scenes website with exclusive footage available for purchase through subscriptions. Plus, he’ll use the profile to promote upcoming street fighters by travelling the world and amplifying their skills through the Masvidal brand.
This is a proactive move by Masvidal as it doesn’t only synergise with his explicit personality, but it’s opening a monetisation stream alongside his other revenue channels through brand endorsements, PPV sales and more. It allows his fans to feel close and personal to Jorge, particularly with the younger generation, which will continually unlock connections to sustain Gamebred’s audience growth.
Gamebred Fighting Championship
The Cuban fighter has become so ambitious to take his passion for street fighting to a new level by setting up his own bare-knuckle MMA promotion, Gamebred Fighting Championship (GFC). The promotion made its debut in mid-June with Jason Knight vs Charles Bennett. Hip-hop artist, Anuel AA, has invested in the company and will outfit the GFC fighters.
There are rumours that Jorge could compete in the division itself when his UFC contract expires. Masvidal is signed by American Top Team; his fellow teammate and former UFC fighter Paige VanZant are now competing in rival promotion, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.
This venture provides Masvidal a monetisation stream that will be larger than his exclusive website, Gamebredfights.com. GFC also allows Jorge’s fans to explore other MMA disciplines away from the UFC to get an authentic taste of where Masvidal’s passion truly lies. Considering GFC being a bare-knuckle promotion, it’s likely to be shadow banned by most mainstream sports right holders. Therefore, this is a chance to optimise Gamebredfights.com to release exclusive footage of the competition.
The BMF
Late 2019 saw Jorge become the UFC’s first BMF (Baddest Mother F****r) champion after brutally defeating Stockton’s Nate Diaz, resulting in a Round 3 stoppage. The BMF belt was created to maximise impact upon Nate Diaz’s return to the Octagon against a worthy opponent in Masvidal, who in the same year got the fastest knockout in UFC history against Ben Askren. Plus, none other than Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson was at the event to present the belt.
Jorge has ensured the BMF title holds unique leverage against the other World Title belts by using it as a marketing ploy to build stronger connections with his fans. Jorge has another website called https://www.jorgemasvidal.com.au/, where he promotes ‘the BMF’ experience where fans can meet him at events, train with him or event dine with the BMF champion. He’s even documented the experience through his YouTube channel in a short-docuseries called ‘The full-time fighter’.
This is another easy win for the Cuban-American fighter to add another monetisation stream and get close and personal to his fans to sustain long-term connections.
Jorge is a unique fighter in the UFC division who may not have the most prestigious record. Still, outside of the Octagon, he’s capitalising on every opportunity possible to amplify his brand.
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