Early career Godbeer made his professional MMA debut on 7 August 2009 with a TKO victory over Sam Hooker. While fighting for numerous regional promotions, he amassed a record of 7–1 with all victories coming by way of knockout or submission. Following this, he was signed by
BAMMA in 2012 to compete in their heavyweight division.
BAMMA and Bellator MMA Between March 2012 and May 2016, Godbeer would remain undefeated in the
BAMMA cage. During this time, he also signed on with
Bellator MMA and would make a single appearance for the promotion, facing notable heavyweight
Cheick Kongo on 4 October 2013 at Bellator 102. Following that loss, Godbeer would claim three straight victories in
BAMMA, including winning the world heavyweight title against Paul Taylor on 13 June 2015. During this run he would announce a brief retirement from MMA due to injury, but ended that retirement in May 2016 to defend the BAMMA heavyweight title.
Ultimate Fighting Championship Godbeer signed with the
UFC in September 2016. He made his promotional debut on 19 November 2016 against
Justin Ledet at
UFC Fight Night 99. He would lose the bout via submission in the first round. Godbeer was expected to face
Todd Duffee on 4 March 2017, at
UFC 209. However, Duffee pulled out of the fight in mid-February for undisclosed reasons. He was replaced by promotional newcomer Daniel Spitz. Godbeer would win the bout via unanimous decision. Godbeer was expected to face
Walt Harris on 7 October 2017 at
UFC 216 before a fight-day injury to
Derrick Lewis took him out of his scheduled fight with
Fabricio Werdum. As a result, Harris was moved on to face Werdum, and Godbeer was pulled from the event. The bout with Harris was rescheduled for 4 November 2017 at
UFC 217. Godbeer won the fight via disqualification after Harris hit Godbeer with a head kick following the referee called a time out due to a groin strike. Godbeer was expected to face promotional newcomer Dmitry Poberezhets on 17 March 2018 at
UFC Fight Night 127. However, it was announced on 25 January 2018 Poberezhets was injured and he was replaced by Dmitriy Sosnovskiy. Godbeer lost the fight via submission in the second round. Godbeer was briefly scheduled to face
Luis Henrique in his return to light heavyweight division on 22 September 2018 at
UFC Fight Night 137. However, Godbeer pulled out of the fight in early August, citing injury, and was replaced by promotional newcomer
Ryan Spann. Godbeer announced his retirement on 25 September 2018 . ==Bare-knuckle boxing==