Gzim Selmani has had quite the career and now it’s heading to the BKFC ring.
Selmani began competing in MMA as a teenager, including debuting with Bellator at just 19 years of age. Following that fight,
and as he was honing his mixed martial arts craft, Selmani got a tryout with WWE and was picked up—a run that lasted nearly a decade over two stints with the promotion. It was announced in December that Selmani, who was released from WWE at the beginning of 2025, signed with BKFC. He makes his debut at KnuckleMania 6 on Feb. 7 in Philadelphia.
Known as Rezar in WWE—one half of the championship winning Authors of Pain tag team—Selmani had plenty of options on the table following his release, but heading to the BKFC world is where the road led.
“After WWE, we left in January [2025], I was thinking if I wanted to continue wrestling or not,” Selmani told MMA Fighting. “Took a little break, healed from some minor injuries, and, yeah. I got back with an old friend of mine, Shane Watson — he’s a boxing manager in the United Kingdom — and we sat around the table and discussed some options, some fighting options, boxing options, maybe a comeback into the MMA world where I’m originally coming from.
“But, yeah, there were some options, some good options as well, and then one of the options was BKFC… and yeah, that’s how it really stared. It’s something that’s in my blood, it’s something that’s in my DNA and I think I can do a lot of damage in BKFC.”
Selmani revealed that promotions such as Misfits Boxing had reached out about securing his services. The 4-2 pro MMA fighter, who faced current UFC heavyweight Ante Delija in 2013, wasn’t interested in the influencer and celebrity boxing scene.
Having no fear of the stage, and having no cares in the world in regards to who he may share the ring with, Selmani believes he’s making the correct decision at this point in his career.
“There were some boxing options against the celebrities, or whatever, but it’s not really the route I wanted to go right now,” Selmani explained. “I’m still young. I’m 31 years old, I have a nine-year WWE career behind me.
“I was 19 when I fought in Bellator in the heavyweight division. I was the youngest heavyweight there, and I think that’s something maybe for in the future, but for now I want to compete against the best and I think the right choice is BKFC.”
As of now, Selmani’s BKFC opponent has not been revealed, although there have been a number of names presented to him. Selmani’s most notable MMA win came in 2014, when he submitted UFC veteran Oli Thompson in just 18 seconds for the BAMMA promotion.
Despite being out of combat sports for over a decade, Selmani is eerily calm about getting into a bare-knuckle fight in BKFC’s annual extravaganza. The biggest reason for his relaxed nature is the work he’s done in the gym and on the mats over the years with high-level fighters.
“I come from Team Golden Glory, a lot of people don’t know what that means,” Selmani said. “We spar two times a week with MMA gloves, like three, four-ounce gloves, and we sparred hard, you know. We would knock guys out on the regular, on a spar day. So I let my teammates hit me with MMA gloves when we spar.
“I spar with boxing gloves, 16-ounce, they fight with four-ounce [MMA] gloves. So, of course, I’m excited to get back into fighting, but there’s no nerves. It’s work for me and I know what I can do. I know my power.
“If I drop guys with 16-ounce gloves, I’ll break their face with no gloves, guaranteed. A lot of people underestimate fists. These are knives. If you actually know how to fight, like me, these are murder weapons.”
