Top BKFC contender & MMA veteran Chris Camozzi is laying it all on the line for his upcoming title fight against Sawyer Depee.
Sometimes when you want back in, you have to be prepared to go all in.
Chris Camozzi has found himself in an unusual position over the last year. The 37-year old has spent more than half of his life fighting professionally, in mixed-martial arts where he was a key figure in UFC over three separate stints, as well as the various disciplines that comprise MMA individually, from kickboxing to grappling, to now bare-knuckle boxing. Yet for over a year, Camozzi has found himself searching for a thing he’s never had any difficulty finding in his life: A fight.
In September of 2023, Camozzi came agonizingly close to winning the BKFC cruiserweight title, losing a close decision to then-champion Lorenzo Hunt in his de facto hometown of Denver, Colorado. Given the parity of the fight itself—one which he won on one judge’s scorecards—as well as Hunt’s suspension earlier this year—Camozzi rightfully thought a big opportunity would be coming any day. But as those days mounted, Camozzi started to get antsy. With ventures in commercial real estate, it certainly wasn’t out of financial necessity, but rather pure passion, and frankly, habit.
“Thinking about retirement terrifies me,” he said. “Half of my identity has been in fighting forever.”
But after conversations with Gamebred MMA and kickboxing organizations, he received the offer from David Feldman whom he says he was making roughly bi-weekly requests for since November of last year.
Camozzi will face Sawyer Depee for the vacant BKFC cruiserweight title on October 25 in Denver, both the title shot and the homecoming he wanted. One of the biggest moments of his nearly two-decade career.
“It's pretty high up there. One, it's fighting for the title. Two, fighting in Denver, my hometown, because going back to my UFC career and everything, I never had the opportunity to fight here, ever. That was a bummer. So, getting to fight for a big promotion here in Denver, and to fight for a title? I'm pumped,” said Camozzi.
The fight will be Camozzi’s fourth with the promotion, having not fought in MMA since 2021 when he defeated Cory Hendricks in PFL. Prior to the split decision loss to Hunt, Camozzi scored first-round knockout victories over Bubba McDaniel and Dan Spohn.
With a distinguished resume, not to mention over 100,000 Instagram followers, promoters will always take Camozzi’s call. He has options. But the allure of bare knuckle, for reasons both visceral and physiological—and also a little egotistical--drew Camozzi to the world’s fastest-growing combat sport at this stage in his career.
“(It was) probably the shock value of it. When I started MMA, that was 2005, 2006, it wasn't as big as it is now. Back then, people were like, 'you're doing what?' Now, MMA has become so household, it's like, it doesn't matter if they're 70 years old, they're watching it. It's become a regular sport, and bare knuckle still, you tell people and they're like, you don't wear gloves? What?! They're taken aback by it,” said Camozzi. “We've even heard some of the UFC guys say no way, that's not for me. So, there is a little bit of a tip of the cap here.”
Camozzi says he’s also found something other aging former MMA stars have found, the ironic truth that while the act of fighting bare knuckle has its own unique hazards and difficulties, the act of preparing for a BKFC fight is much less taxing on his joints and body overall than gearing up for a night in the octagon.
“I'm kind of on the tail end of my career, and it is easier on my body. When I tell people that, they're like, what are you talking about? But focusing on one discipline is a lot easier. MMA, there's not enough hours in the day,” he said. “With bare knuckle boxing, or boxing in discipline, I do cardio in the morning or at night, I switch it up. And then I'm doing mitts, and either drilling or sparring. It's very easy to get it all in in a week. I can two two-a-days pretty easily and get everything in that I need. My knees are kind of shot, not shot, I've never had any surgeries or anything, but they hurt quite a bit. So, with boxing, it's not too bad. But when I'm doing MMA, checking kicks, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, my body hurts quite a bit.”
As a sport still very much in its infancy, bare knuckle has evolved even in the year Camozzi has been away. With each passing year, bare knuckle moves further away from the brute chaos one came to expect from early offerings, and new techniques and strategies are found to be effective. Camozzi describes himself as “a sponge,” watching not only bare knuckle, but pro boxing and MMA to look for techniques and patterns that might be useful in a bare knuckle fight.
“We have an opportunity to make our own style still. There's no set way of doing it, it's not like MMA or kickboxing where it's been around so long that there is kind of a traditional way of doing,” said Camozzi. “I've continued even in that lull, working footwork, working straight boxing stuff, different set-ups, different ways to counter and block that I don't think other guys are doing yet. It's kind of like going to the science lab.”
As much as Camozzi is a lifelong martial artist who will surely always be learning, and as much as bare knuckle is unusually enough a departure from the physical grind he’s accustomed to, he also readily acknowledges that the hourglass is running out of sand in his career. He’s chosen to use that as fuel heading into the title fight against Depee, giving himself an ultimatum.
“I've told myself this is win or be done for me. With a loss, I'll be done, because it's been 19, 20 years, somewhere in there, I've got a ton of fights, and I only wanna be champion. If I'm not gonna be champion, this is my second chance at a belt, and I don't see them giving me a third unless it's a year or two down the road, and I don't wanna be fighting in my forties. I'm putting everything in this fight, which is great because I like that kind of pressure anyway. And I love fighting, I want to continue, so it's not a one foot out kinda thing, I'm just telling myself, that way I can put everything in and go all out. Even if I'm down and it's round five, go for broke, this might be the last one. It's kind of a fun feeling going in,” said Camozzi.
“If you really want to do it then fucking do it. Go out and win.”
Photo courtesies: BKFC
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