BKFC celebrated its sixth birthday with an old school card, where the judges weren't needed.
(Photo Courtesy: BKFC)
BKFC Denver delivered both on action but also on the expressed purpose of the Prospect Series, to produce fighters with an obvious future in the company, highlighting some breakthrough performances.
Six years ago, the company was seeking out jurisdictions to be able to surreptitiously run event, pleading to be taken seriously and to be allowed to operate. The fact that the company is now running Friday night shows with the intention of developing stars for its larger shows is a remarkable feat in a six-year timespan.
Here are the can’t-miss fights from BKFC Prospect Series Denver:
Zeb Vincent vs. Casey Moses
In a night full of relatively quick stoppages, Vincent-Moses stood out as the fight with the longest sustained action, but this is a fight that would have stood out on most bare knuckle shows as well.
Both Vincent and Moses are over-the-top characters, which added to the fun of the fight. Vincent’s reference points for both personality and in-ring style pretty clearly being the Diaz brothers. Moses, meanwhile, was making his pro combat sports debut, but showed the confidence of a veteran, getting into Vincent’s face and telling him and the camera “this is my ring” repeatedly before the opening bell.
Moses ceased the land deed to the ring rather quickly in this fight, but not without an admirable fight. Moses rocked Vincent with some big right hands in the early going, but Vincent’s highwire act defense of leaning back out of the way of shots enabled him to ride with the blows just enough to keep him out of trouble. Eventually, Vincent’s handspeed and fluid combinations started to bust Moses up, closing his left eye completely and covering his face with blood to the point that the referee called the fight off at the end of the third round.
“Any man that steps into the motherf-----g squared circle with me better have the best cutman in the world in their corner because I’m coming to perform plastic surgery,” Vincent, who is known as “Crazy White Boy,” posted later on Facebook.
Ramiro Figueroa vs. Brett Hudson
Figueroa, a 5-3 pro boxer, made his BKFC debut against the 0-1 Brett Hudson, and put on a dazzling performance in front of his hometown audience in Denver.
Figueroa more or less didn’t adapt his boxing style for bare knuckle whatsoever because he didn’t really have to. His hand speed, punch placement and angles just completely froze the much more crude Hudson, who didn’t have any answers but to shell up as Figueroa ran his combinations off.
There’s a flashiness to Figueroa’s approach, combined with an obvious local fan following based on the volume of the crowd during his fight make him one to watch in the future, especially as Denver continues to become one of bare knuckle’s hotbed markets.
Lumumba Sayers vs. Jeremy Morrison
Like it or not, part of developing stars in combat sports these days is the ability to market them on social media. On Friday night, Lumumba Sayers delivered content entertaining enough to post anywhere, but also brief enough to have been posted on Vine, let alone Tik-Tok and Instagram.
The 45-year old Sayers, whose heyday in MMA was roughly around the time when Vine was a thing, breathed new life into his career and also the old boxing adage that “power is the last thing to go,” as he starched Morrison in twelve seconds.
Sayers turned an overhand right all the way over and the second his fist his Morrison’s temple, Morrison’s eyes glazed over and his hands dropped to his side. The referee wisely jumped in immediately, saving Morrison from what would have been an unprotected flurry while he was out cold on his feet.
Sawyer Depee vs. Keegan Vandermeer
Perhaps it was fitting for BKFC’s birthday show to wrap up with a star from Montana, BKFC’s first real territory. Sawyer Depee established that he was several levels above Vandermeer, scoring three knockdowns in quick order. The last knockdown was courtesy of a perfect check right hook, sending Vandermeer under the bottom rope for a count much longer than the ten seconds needed to wave the fight off.
Depee is marketed as “a gatekeeper” on BKFC’s own website, but the slugger, who was ranked No. 4 in the cruiserweight division coming into the fight, might have stepped into new territory in a loaded division with this emphatic win.
After the fight, Depee declared that he was coming for the title, and with three consecutive first round knockouts, he’s putting together a compelling case.
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