Robelis Despaigne is a happy man inside the Karate Combat pit.
Back to his knockout ways with a record-setting four-second finish over Dominik Jedrzejczyk in his promotional debut back in December, the Cuban talent decided to waste no time on the sidelines, booking another clash for this weekend’s show in Miami, facing Marcos Brigagao at Karate Combat 52.
The UFC veteran made waves in the octagon with a 18-second finish in his debut — plus three other sub-minute finishes in the regional scene prior to that — but was let go by the promotion after back-to-back decision defeats. Now signed with Karate Combat and newly founded MMA promotion GFL, he celebrates good deals for 2025.
“The contract with the UFC was a quick one, I didn’t have the opportunity to renew it,” Despaigne told MMA Fighting. “But yes, [Karate Combat] is paying me a lot more than the UFC.”
GFL will hold its 2025 draft on Friday night, too, so it could determine a date and opponent for Despaigne’s return to MMA. He didn’t want to wait, though, choosing to be part of Karate Combat 52 in the meantime.
“The [Jedrzejczyk] fight was very quick and we have no time to waste here,” Despaigne said. “I finished it well, not taking damage or anything, so I went after another fight.”
Brigagao is a 6’4” Brazilian fighter with a 17-7 record in MMA, including a 2019 appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series. He scored 12 of his 17 pro MMA wins by knockout but was stopped in his most recent one, a first-round loss to Guto Inocente in a bare-knuckle MMA bout at Gamebred.
“He’s very good and has a lot more experience despite the fact he’s younger than me,” Despaigne said of Brigagao. “He has more than 20 MMA fights and is more experienced than me, so it’s going to be a hard fight. I’ve watched his fights and he’s a good fighter.”
On top of his perfect Karate Combat debut, Despaigne is an Olympic bronze medalist in taekwondo with all MMA wins coming by way of knockout. He continues to work on wrestling and jiu-jitsu for his eventual return to MMA later this year, but won’t spend any unnecessary seconds in the pit for experience.
“Winning is what matters,” Despaigne said. “If I can get the knockouts, let’s go, but winning is what matters the most. [But I do] prefer quick knockouts always [laughs]. Every fighter will choose a quick knockout if he has the opportunity, right?”
