Some of the most iconic celebrations in combat sports have taken place inside the cage. And you can add another this week off the back of GameBred FC — this time including a particular four-legged friend.
Taking headlining honors at the end of last year, former UFC contender Alex Nicholson returned to action against Frank Tate in the main event of GameBred Bareknuckle MMA 8.
However, swinging and slugging at the cage fence against Tate in the opening round, Nicholson walked onto a massive hook inside the opening minute. Consequently, the four-fight Octagon veteran was faceplanted with a massive counter shot.
And while the stoppage went viral in its own right, this week, post-fight antics hit the headlines once more. Taking in all the plaudits in the cage following his win, Tate welcomed his staffy puppy into the arena.
Embracing with his loyal pet following his win, Tate even shook hands with the pooch — who himself seemed to be more than impressed with his owner’s performance.
View this post on Instagram
Given the virality of the clip, a host of fans on Instagram claimed the dog in question knew he was in for a gourmet feed with the victory from his owner. “Bro knows he gonna eat good tonight too with that paycheck,” a user commented of the staffy.
Others had some childish ideas and said, “Imagine if the dog peed on the rival after winning, it would be epic.” A third Instagram user observed something peculiar and added, “the dog even stepped into the dap. he looks like he’s about to ask to hold something.”
— THE UFCGUY (@the_ufcguy) May 27, 2025
And while Tate may have landed some decent cheddar for his win, his own promoter, Jorge Masvidal, ran into trouble in that regard for his most recent combat sports outing.
Masvidal blasted by Nate Diaz over fight purse mishap
Rekindling his ancient rivalry with fellow Octagon alum, Nate Diaz, back in the summer of last year, Masvidal met the Stockton Slugger in a boxing ring.
First fighting back in 2019 for the symbolic BMF championship, Masvidal emerged with the inaugural title, courtesy of a doctor’s stoppage TKO win over Diaz in their Madison Square Garden showdown.
But suffering a controversial majority decision loss in their boxing rematch, Masvidal largely disputed the decision on show from the attending judges in California.
However, in the weeks following the pairing, Diaz hit the court system himself. Citing a failure to receive a staggering $9 million payday from the promoters of the event for his rematch with Masvidal, the Stockton star filed a lawsuit.
According to reports, Diaz was paid just $1 million from an agreed $10 million paycheck for his fight with Masvidal, leaving $9 million up in the air from Engel and Fanmio — the event’s promoter.
“In a flurry of desperate calls to Diaz’s representatives following the event, Engel despondently grovelled that he was going to lose more money than he had anticipated on the event if he paid Diaz what he had promised and that his wife might divorce him because of the financial losses,” the lawsuit states.
Engel went so far as to threaten that he might have to declare bankruptcy to avoid paying Diaz what he owed.
“Nate Diaz has filed a frivolous lawsuit against Fanmio, which claims that fraud and breach of contract were committed by Fanmio, yet neither has taken place,” Engel said in a statement.
Defending himself further, Engel said that Diaz had already been paid seven figures for the fight and expressed hope that justice would prevail.
