How would LT Nelson stack up against UFC champions in a bare knuckle fight? Dive into the matchups and find out who could come out on top.
After LT Nelson’s monumental victory over Barrie Jones at BYB 30, which earned him the title of Police Gazette World Diamond Super Middleweight champion, BYB’s social media ignited a lively debate.
Which started a conversation in the Bare Knuckle Nation office: how many top level guys from other disciplines could he beat? Which eventually trickled into which UFC champions could LT defeat in a bare knuckle fight? Before you scoff and dismiss this as nonsense (which it kind of is) remember Luke Rockhold, a former UFC champion, went 15 minutes with a hulking knockout artist Paulo Costa in his final UFC appearance and, eight months later, couldn’t last four minutes in bare knuckle with Mike Perry. It was a wild slippery slope to get here for sure, but we had fun and wanted to extend that to you!
Here are the rules:
All fights are bare knuckle and adhere to BYB rules.
All fighters are hypothetically adjusted to LT’s weight of 168-lbs.
All fights occur in the BYB Trigon.
Obviously we're just having fun here. These guys are the best of the best in their respective line of work, but we’re a bare knuckle website and there's no event this week, let us have this one! So from the top down let’s go from heavyweight to flyweight who can “Smash” smash?
Heavyweight - Jon Jones
Yikes. Straight into the fire with our first matchup. First off, what would a 6’4”, 168-lb. Jon Jones even look like? Slenderman? Though Jones is an exceptionally skilled MMA fighter, his boxing has been average compared to his overall game. In a bare knuckle match in the Trigon, LT's endurance and precision could pose significant problems for Jones. Both guys would have their moments with Jones showcasing his legendary fight IQ and LT bringing out the dog inside once again, this one would be close.
Verdict: Draw
Light Heavyweight - Alex Periera
Oof. Just rewatch Pereira vs Sean Strickland.
Verdict - Pereira by KO
Photo Courtesy: BYB
Middleweight - Dricus Du Plesis
The battle of South Africa! Two guys with massive gas tanks that never seem to fail no matter how drawn out the fight gets. This would be a furious slugfest for the first round and then the most grimey, brutal fight maybe in the history of combat sports for the remaining six. That being said, Du Plessis is another guy that mixes everything together very well, underrated grappling and good kickboxing, but unknowns surround his straight boxing ability. The power advantage would likely favour DDP, even at 168 imaginary pounds, while the accuracy stays with LT giving us a very close fight down to the wire. I honestly think that both of these guys would spend about six months in the hospital after this one is over.
Verdict - Draw
Welterweight - Belal Muhammad
LT gets his first win on the board in this one. Belal has a crazy gas tank so that's a plus, but any success he has on the feet is predicated on his opponent being worried about his phenomenal grappling. While he does likely have some power that we haven’t seen unleashed yet, it's likely nothing LT hasn’t felt before. Pretty cut and dry if you ask me.
Verdict - Nelson by KO
Lightweight - Islam Makhachev
Similar to DDP, this would be a war. Islam has really good standup that people often forget about because of his dominant wrestling. LT would need to make some adjustments to his approach with a lot of his work getting done in the clinch, that won’t be possible against the sambo specialist. From range, LT’s accuracy would be his best asset but Islam is powerful, calculated, and resilient, likely finding a way to edge LT on the cards.
Verdict - Makhachev by DEC
Photo Courtesy: BYB
Featherweight - Ilia Topuria
Another tough one for LT but hey, anything can happen. Topuria’s bread and butter is his crisp boxing that has put guys away at 145 and 155, so a 168-lb. version would be equally as scary. LT is there to be hit and Topuria would certainly oblige! This one likely goes into the later rounds with both wearing a ton of damage, but the power of Topuria is likely too much to handle across seven rounds.
Bantamweight - Sean O’Malley
LT gets a front row seat to the “Suga Show”, and I think this goes similar to his fight with Topuria. O’Malley has great hands and his understanding of footwork and angles would give Nelson fits. Our bare knuckle champ would certainly take rounds off of him and would bruise him up in the corners, but Sean is too smooth and too slick to be weighed down by Nelson. I think even with the power on both sides it goes the distance.
Verdict - O’Malley by Dec
Flyweight - Alexandre Pantoja
Another win for LT! Pantoja is a great all-around fighter but we haven’t seen a very boxing heavy approach form him in the past, so I’m hesitant to give him the edge over Nelson. Even if you scale up his height for his move to 168-lbs. LT would still have the boxing advantage and have his way with the UFC champ. A mid-round stoppage for Nelson.
Verdict - Nelson by KO
In total, LT Nelson’s hypothetical record against UFC champions stands at 2 wins, 4 losses, and 2 draws. While this might seem like a mixed result, it highlights Nelson's exceptional skill in bare knuckle fighting. Considering Mike Perry’s success against former UFC champions, Nelson could very well hold his own!
Top Photo Courtesy of BYB.
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