A stacked weekend of bare knuckle action had plenty of matchups worth looking back at.
It was a busy weekend of bare knuckle action, one of the increasingly less-rare occasions in which both of the major US-based bare knuckle outfits staged shows on back-to-back nights. This week, it was undoubtedly BYB taking center stage with several high profile bouts topping the bill in Denver, but BKFC brought its signature brand of chaos in Connecticut as well.
Overall, the week was indicative of the growth of the sport, spotlighting bare knuckle boxing in relatively new markets in Colorado and Connecticut, regions that in the infancy of US-based bare knuckle were simply not on the table for promoters. It also showed the diversity of talent in the sport, from ex-boxers to notable MMA fighters to garden variety roughnecks who still play a vital role in the sport.
Here are the must-see fights from the weekend:
(Photo Courtesy: BYB Extreme)
LT Nelson vs. Tommy Turner
Tommy Turner did exactly what he said he would do in this fight, trying to walk down LT Nelson and trap him in the corners of The Mighty Trigon. Unfortunately for him, Nelson was prepared to match power with power and used Nelson’s aggression against him.
About ten seconds into the bout, it looked like Turner had dropped Nelson with an uppercut, but it was in fact a tangling of the lead feet. After that, there was no ambiguity as to who was in control of this one. About twenty seconds later, Nelson buzzed Turner with a left hook, and by the end of the opening minute, dropped Turner with the same shot.
To Turner’s credit, he never backed down from a toe-to-toe brawl, keeping Nelson on the back foot even when he was in dire trouble, but was simply outgunned on this night. Another flurry from Nelson finished the job before the end of the round.
With the win, Nelson becomes the first two-division champion in the company’s history.
(Photo Courtesy: BKFC)
Michael Trizano vs. Louie Lopez
Trizano, the Ultimate Fighter season 27 winner, looked to have his hands full with Lopez on paper. That did not play out in reality whatsoever.
This fight was a beautiful example of understanding range inside the BKFC ring. Unlike BYB’s triangular ring, BKFC’s ring allows for much more movement, and in some cases can actually favor more mobile fighters. The concern for MMA fighters transitioning to bare knuckle is whether they can understand range without the use or threat of kicks. Some immediately get it, others struggle. Trizano is firmly in the former category.
Lopez well wildly short with some of his opening flurries as Trizano simply stepped out of range. Lopez didn’t learn his lesson quickly enough, and continued to throw haymakers that made him tumble off balance. Trizano had seen what he needed to see, and flattened Lopez with a counter shot during one of his wild offerings inside the opening minute and ended the night with one shot.
Trizano brings more name recognition to BKFC, and also gives them a New York-based star to lean on as they continue to penetrate the east coast market.
(Photo Courtesy: BYB Extreme)
Zion Tomlinson vs. Uly Diaz
A very bad weekend for Bare Knuckle Nation profile subjects, but a breakout night for Zion Tomlinson.
Diaz entered the bout as by far the more accomplished and better known fighter, but was flat out beaten in the very firefight that he asked for against Tomlinson. In particular, once Tomlinson adopted the southpaw stance and started using uppercuts, Diaz’s strategy of tucking up and leading with his head to make space for overhand rights only served to walk him into Tomlinson’s shots.
Tomlinson inflicted an ungodly amount of punishment in this fight, dropping Diaz repeatedly. The win was so thorough that even BYB’s own social media account used the caption “ZION TOMLINSON PUTS AN END TO THE HYPE TRAIN.”
(Photo Courtesy: BKFC)
Zach Calmus vs. Connor McKenna
The caliber of bare knuckle boxing has improved dramatically over the years, but there was a time when fighters like Zach Calmus were the nucleus of the sport. Back at BKFC 17, Calmus and Bobo O’Bannon had a two-round war that Calmus came out on the wrong side of, but one that endeared him to the fanbase.
Several years later, he’s still on the BKFC roster, and is still a reliable source of a good, sloppy heavyweight brawl, just like this one against McKenna. There was very little conventional boxing technique to be found, just heart and guts as two meaty men exchanged haymakers while their gas tanks rapidly depleted.
The reality is that there is a chunk of the audience that wants bare knuckle fights to look like this, or like Angulo-Riggs, and BKFC seems cognizant that variety is of importance. Some people tune in to watch Austin Trout style on dudes, others want to see the big brawlers bang.
(Photo Courtesy: BYB Extreme)
Robert Duran Jr. vs. Javon Wright
Duran Jr. found himself at a similar crossroads as Uly Diaz did in his pro boxing career. As a 35-year old with the cache of being the son of Roberto Duran, there was the temptation for promoters to try to turn him into something. But back in October of last year, that bubble was burst when Duran was stopped in two rounds by Jack McGann on the Fury-Ngannou undercard in Riyadh.
Duran himself seemed to sense that it was time for a transition, saying two weeks ago in a press release: “I intend to focus solely on bare-knuckle, provided BYB can keep me active. It is the future of combat sports and I plan on being one of its first mainstream stars for years to come and help propel it to the masses."
Duran’s bare knuckle experiment couldn’t have gone any better, earning a third round TKO, Fight of the Night honors at BYB 38, and dropping Wright several times in a wild brawl that at times resembled a hockey fight with fighters holding the back of one another’s necks and wailing away.
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