In a brutal sport like bare knuckle longevity isn't a guarantee, but for Brito, it has been.
Bare knuckle fighting can sometimes feel like a constant revolving door of new contenders. As the sport grows and evolves, new fighters enter the sport on a weekly basis, and quite often, help to push out some of its former stars. There are very few constants, links back to the earliest days of the sport’s relaunch in the United States.
The main exception is Elvin Brito. Not only has he been with BKFC since its third ever event, but he’s been, at worst, a major contender the entire time. Brito became the inaugural BKFC welterweight champion in 2022, defeating Kaleb Harris in a classic back-and-forth slugfest. But after losses to Luis Palomino in his first title defense and then to Carlos Trinidad-Snake afterwards (two decisions he vehemently disputes), it appeared as though Brito might have become one of those fighters who had simply aged out of the sport.
Instead, he came storming back with a first-round blitzing of Ja’Far Fortt in April of this year, looking nothing like the tricky, awkward counterpuncher that fans had come to expect.
“I'm 39, I'm at my peak. It's not boxing, it's not MMA. It's not a primarily athletic-based sport, this is a skill-based sport. I'm going back to my old style of fighting. I'm taking it away from the judges,” Brito told Bare Knuckle Nation. “My next loss is going to be by knockout. If I lose. You're either going to knock me out, or I'm going to beat the shit out of you.”
Brito wears a camp t-shirt that says “Fighting Not Boxing,” a hashtag he also likes to use on social media. It serves as a reminder of his tactical transition in the ring, but also of the ideological differences he continues to analyze between boxing, MMA and bare knuckle. Aside from his own career, Brito has been a part of camps with some of the sport’s very best, including Lorenzo Hunt, Britain Hart, and his newest protégé, David Simpson. He admits that his early forays into bare knuckle were primarily because of the money the fights were paying, but after his first loss to Luis Palomino in February of 2020, his “fighters pride kicked in.” Suddenly, Brito became obsessed with the nuances of bare knuckle fighting, toying with everything from an 1800s-style palms in stance to a more free-flowing, hands-down approach.
He turned his “jungle camp” in Puerto Rico, near his farm in the mountains where he takes care of chickens and various birds, into a bare knuckle training destination, one he plans to formalize with a true brick and mortar structure in the coming years. Working mostly in the outdoors in the suffocating humidity, Brito began to analyze the sport as both fighter and coach. This mental shift coincided with the best run of Brito’s career, one peaking with his world title victory.
Photo Courtesy: BKFC
"A lot of these guys come from UFC, they come from boxing, they don't respect the sport, and they end up getting really hurt. Just like in professional wrestling where if you get your neck broken in front of everybody, nobody cares. When Noah Cutter got his face cut open, you could name the sinuses inside of his face and the crowd was like boo, you stopped it too early,” said Brito. “The sport is too different, the impact mechanics are too different, you have to approach it in that fashion or else you'll get hurt. There's only a handful of guys like me that can fight into double digits and make it out fine. I've been blessed."
Brito will make his 11th appearance in bare knuckle this weekend, when he takes on No. 2-ranked welterweight Jake Lindsey in the main event of BKFC Fight Night: Kansas City. It’s an opportunity for him to prove that not only has the sport not passed him by, but that he’s at the forefront of a technical revolution within it.
“I have a whole different methodology in the sport. I learned a lot from the old bare knuckle, but this isn't the old bare knuckle,” said Brito. “Bare knuckle is very particular. You cannot simulate a bare knuckle fight. It's all theoretical until you get in there. So, what I've been working on is consistency in power. Every time I land a punch, I want the judges to see it. Whether I land a hook, a jab, a cross, I want the whole front row to move back. From the first round to the last round, I've been working on having the same consistency in power. Whether I'm fresh or I'm gassed.”
To this day, Brito is convinced that he should still be welterweight champion, thoroughly believing that he deserved the nod on the scorecards in both his second bout with Palomino and Trinidad-Snake. Palomino lost the title to former 154-pound world boxing champion Austin Trout, who still holds it to this day.
Brito hopes that a win over Lindsey will set him up for an opportunity against Trout, whom he feels has not evolved enough in this particular discipline to hang with him.
Photo Courtesy: BKFC
“If you see Austin Trout, he's not a fighter. He's not a dog. He's a boxer. He's a point fighter. He moves around, he does his little boxing thing. He's never fought a day in his life, and you're gonna go in there and box him? Of course you lost, why wouldn't you. But that's not gonna happen when I fight Austin Trout. I'm not stupid like Luis Palomino. I'm gonna go in there and I'm gonna punish Austin Trout for thinking it's gonna be sweet. But as soon as he finds out that he can't use his jab anymore, what choice does he have? You have to fight me, bro,” he said.
“But first, Jake Lindsey's presumptuous ass. I can't wait to show Jake Lindsey that he is nothing like me. You should have never mentioned my name.”
“I still love this sport. I still have so much to give. Maybe I'll fight until I'm 50, beating up these youngins!”
Top Photo Courtesy of BKFC
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