BARE KNUCKLE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP JUNE 2
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BARE KNUCKLE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP DEBUTS ON JUNE 2
BY MICHAEL WOODS
Since 2009, David Feldman has been working on bringing his concept to the execution stage: Bare knuckle fighting. He’s long thought that this old-school style of combat could and should have a place in the combat sports realm today. So he knocked on doors, rang phones, sent emails and politely stalked anyone and everyone he thought could help bringBare Knuckle Fighting Championship to the finish line.
On June 2, Feldman’s wish comes true; we heard on the Everlast “Talkbox” podcast that the first sanctioned event will unfold in Wyoming, and be broadcast on pay-per-view.
The founder Feldman and fighter Bobby Gunn, purportedly 73-0 on the underground circle and known to pro boxing fans for having fought Tomasz Adamek, James Toney, Glen Johnson and Roy Jones, came to Manhattan and clued us in on what the rules and regulations are, and lobbied us as to why they think this brand of fighting will resonate with the masses.
For starters, Feldman said, they ran a bare knuckle event back in 2011, sort of an outlaw outing, in that it wasn’t sanctioned by a state commission. It was held on an Indian reservation and the response was startling to him. Over a million attempts were made to purchase the card on PPV, on an internet stream. But that system crashed and Team Feldman wasn’t able to collect on purchases. This time, the card will run on PPV, on the usual outlets, so he’s thinking that’s one huge leap forward toward success.
“We’re bringing back the old into the new,” he said. “Just like anything that’s been around awhile, you modify it, and you bring it back into a new perspective.” Feldman grew up in a fighting family; dad Marty fought pro and trained boxers, like Frank “The Animal” Fletcher and Prince Charles Williams. Brother Damon is also a promoter.
At times, Feldman says, “We had eight to 10 fighters living with us in the house,” in Pennsylvania, and he enjoys the memories. “Two guys that lived with us are on death row right now,” he shared.
And yes, BKFC will indeed feature bare knuckles. No gloves allowed. You can wrap your wrist but knuckles are bare. Gunn explained that rather than being more brutal, the lack of padding will mean there will be less sustained pummelings, the sort which most often lead to brain trauma.
The ring is actually a “squared circle,” 22 feet, and the fighters start out toeing a line and start scrapping right away. Clinching will be discouraged, and fights are five, seven and nine rounds, at two minutes each round.
Names you might know taking part include Paul Spadafora, the ex-lightweight titlist, who is 42 year old, and holds a 49-1-1 (with 19 knockouts) pro pugilism record. He’s had missteps in the law-and-order realm and he thinks he can make a late-inning splash in this new endeavor. Also, ex-UFC heavyweight champ Ricco Rodriguez, age 40, an imperfect vessel seeking the maintained willpower to stay on the narrow path of righteousness, will try this new outlet.
Gunn explained further that hand wraps and gloves have fighters seemingly punching with casts on their fists. He doesn’t punch as hard in bare knuckle, throws usually at maybe 50 percent, because he doesn’t have that padding to keep his hands un-injured. The fighter, who told us he comes from Traveller, or “gypsy” stock, said, “We love the Lord, our wives and fighting.”
“Travellers are like pit bull dogs,” he said, and are bred for fighting. Gunn’s a distant cousin to former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, he shared, and I noted that Fury is superior in the talking realm as much as in the fighting one. “A fight is a fight but you gotta sell yourself,” Gunn said. “I’d rather die on my feet than lay down.” If he fought the Adameks, Toneys, Johnsons and Joneses in bare knuckle, he believes he’d beat them all.
Feldman said he’s been knocking on doors for soooo long. He tried to get UFC boss Dana White involved, and jumped a fence at an event. “You’ll never get it done,” White told him. “See you at the top,” Feldman said.
Twenty-six states told him they would do it but none wanted to be first, Feldman said. “Wyoming is the wild, wild west,” he said, and gives props to its officials for having the courage to jump in.
“I tried to force it on a couple states and then I took a step back,” he said, and realized that his sport will be safer. Football sees helmet-to-helmet contact causing more brain trauma. The padding makes for more repetitive punishment and, in bare knuckle, one blow will render a fighter all done. He’s been able to hone his pitch and more people are seeing this wisdom.
On June 2, there will be 14 fights, 12 on TV and a three-hour window for the PPV. Yes, there will be hitting, tons of it. This won’t be a kind and gentle session. When asked why he was entering, one fighter told Feldman, “I love violence.”
Gunn hopped in and said, “This isn’t barroom brawling.” No one has ever died from bare knuckle boxing, which dates back to the 1800s.
He comes from an underground circuit, and has dealt with surprising turns in fights, like the time he had an underground fight in New York City. “Guy put a hard bite on me, like a vampire,” and said the “fair play fight” went into “rough-and-tumble” mode. Down in the murky fight zone, literally and figuratively shady, Gunn was worried he wouldn’t walk out alive. “I’ve been stabbed, everything you can imagine.” But he walked away, with some moolah and scrubbed the bite with alcohol, living to fight another day.
That’s what this is all about. Certified characters, and some folks who could use a second or third chance in life, will take part. Many will do it because they have a fighting spirit; fighting is in their blood and they can’t quit that addiction. And yes, making money will be a consideration. Our age harkens back to the earlier 1900s, with the haves and have-nots being a gulf apart. People need to feed their families and not everyone invents an app or learns coding. Some people fight to satisfy their desire for combat, and others to raise money for the monthly car payment. Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is for and about those people, and I appreciate the honesty in acknowledging that reality.
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▷ Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship - The Beginning Official PPV Live Stream
Jun 2, 9PM ET/6PM PT
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship debuts on June 2 - The Ring
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C
Ceiling Fan
Guest
I looked back several pages and did not find this thread until I used the search feature, something I think other users should probably use. It's on this Saturday night, 9PM ET on PPV. It's being aired on Fite.TV, so I'll give you guys the same shpeel that I've given for other Fite events to save a lot of money:
For those of you who want to watch this card this weekend, you can register with a new account with Fite.tv, use the referral code below, "like" Fite.tv on Twitter and Facebook through the Fite.tv app, and the card should be free or at the very least the next event you buy on it will be free. You can redeem those credits for the full purchase of the PPV, as far as I know, or if not you can apply those credits to any future purchases of events on that service.
A guide, compiled from elsewhere with a user named TeamFedor of how to do all this:
1. Grab your phone/mobile device.
2. Download the FITE TV app.
3. Sign up with your e-mail.
4. Redeem code (for example 6mop9gp).
5. "Like" Fite.tv on twitter and facebook through the app for bonus credits (1 credit = $1).
6. Buy the PPV.
7. Now back on your pc, go to fite.tv and find the BKFC card or through this link to the event (▷ Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship - The Beginning Official PPV Live Stream). Click on "already ordered", enter your email and password and you should be good to go.
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This is the ring.
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship will have a host of familiar names on the card, including Bare Knuckle heavyweight champion Bobby Gunn, former UFC champion Ricco Rodriguez, kickboxer Maurice Jackson, former Bellator heavyweight Eric Prindle and former UFC fighters D.J. Linderman and Johnny Bedford.
Prindle, Jackson, Rodriguez and Linderman will all be part of the promotion’s heavyweight tournament, with the first round being held on the June 2 card.
Bare knuckle in Wyoming will have weight classes like mixed martial arts and the ruleset will differ slightly from boxing, too. Clinch fighting is much more acceptable in the bare-knuckle rules, with fighters getting more leeway to punch with their free hand while tied up inside. Punches are the only strikes allowed.
More at Bare Knuckle FC promoting event as first state sanctioned bare-knuckle card in U.S. since 1889
For those of you who want to watch this card this weekend, you can register with a new account with Fite.tv, use the referral code below, "like" Fite.tv on Twitter and Facebook through the Fite.tv app, and the card should be free or at the very least the next event you buy on it will be free. You can redeem those credits for the full purchase of the PPV, as far as I know, or if not you can apply those credits to any future purchases of events on that service.
A guide, compiled from elsewhere with a user named TeamFedor of how to do all this:
1. Grab your phone/mobile device.
2. Download the FITE TV app.
3. Sign up with your e-mail.
4. Redeem code (for example 6mop9gp).
5. "Like" Fite.tv on twitter and facebook through the app for bonus credits (1 credit = $1).
6. Buy the PPV.
7. Now back on your pc, go to fite.tv and find the BKFC card or through this link to the event (▷ Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship - The Beginning Official PPV Live Stream). Click on "already ordered", enter your email and password and you should be good to go.
This is the ring.
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship will have a host of familiar names on the card, including Bare Knuckle heavyweight champion Bobby Gunn, former UFC champion Ricco Rodriguez, kickboxer Maurice Jackson, former Bellator heavyweight Eric Prindle and former UFC fighters D.J. Linderman and Johnny Bedford.
Prindle, Jackson, Rodriguez and Linderman will all be part of the promotion’s heavyweight tournament, with the first round being held on the June 2 card.
Bare knuckle in Wyoming will have weight classes like mixed martial arts and the ruleset will differ slightly from boxing, too. Clinch fighting is much more acceptable in the bare-knuckle rules, with fighters getting more leeway to punch with their free hand while tied up inside. Punches are the only strikes allowed.
More at Bare Knuckle FC promoting event as first state sanctioned bare-knuckle card in U.S. since 1889
This is mildly interesting to me. I am not a fan of wrapped+gloved hands. It is really just a very unnatural weapon and big boxing gloves allow for much easier defense (another unnatural thing). I kinda feel the same way about gloves as I do the cage (though I pretty much hate the cage now). My ideal is a VERY lightly padded glove that just reduces cuts from knuckle/bone impact. Nothing enough to protect hands and allow people to swing as hard as possible. They also get in the way of grappling.
I've been watching the Netflix bareknuckle show about the former mob enforcer looking to promote bare knuckle eventsnover in the UK. One of the big turnoffs with pro boxing and bare knuckle is the underworld element. But then again, PRIDE was run by the Yakuza and the UFC was owned by the sons of a mobster so...
I've been watching the Netflix bareknuckle show about the former mob enforcer looking to promote bare knuckle eventsnover in the UK. One of the big turnoffs with pro boxing and bare knuckle is the underworld element. But then again, PRIDE was run by the Yakuza and the UFC was owned by the sons of a mobster so...
I love the idea and spectacle of bareknuckle fights....I will watch
lots of HWs and 6K elevation is gonna make for some tired arms IMO
C
Ceiling Fan
Guest
I expect some fights will end due to broken hands, a la Bowles vs Cruz (an event I attended live), and let's see how many fights go beyond the first round. I don't think it will be many.
T
The Big Guy
Guest
In OPs post it says that there will be a tv and ppv broadcast. Any idea how i can watch the undercard?I looked back several pages and did not find this thread until I used the search feature, something I think other users should probably use. It's on this Saturday night, 9PM ET on PPV. It's being aired on Fite.TV, so I'll give you guys the same shpeel that I've given for other Fite events to save a lot of money:
For those of you who want to watch this card this weekend, you can register with a new account with Fite.tv, use the referral code below, "like" Fite.tv on Twitter and Facebook through the Fite.tv app, and the card should be free or at the very least the next event you buy on it will be free. You can redeem those credits for the full purchase of the PPV, as far as I know, or if not you can apply those credits to any future purchases of events on that service.
A guide, compiled from elsewhere with a user named TeamFedor of how to do all this:
1. Grab your phone/mobile device.
2. Download the FITE TV app.
3. Sign up with your e-mail.
4. Redeem code (for example 6mop9gp).
5. "Like" Fite.tv on twitter and facebook through the app for bonus credits (1 credit = $1).
6. Buy the PPV.
7. Now back on your pc, go to fite.tv and find the BKFC card or through this link to the event (▷ Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship - The Beginning Official PPV Live Stream). Click on "already ordered", enter your email and password and you should be good to go.
This is the ring.
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship will have a host of familiar names on the card, including Bare Knuckle heavyweight champion Bobby Gunn, former UFC champion Ricco Rodriguez, kickboxer Maurice Jackson, former Bellator heavyweight Eric Prindle and former UFC fighters D.J. Linderman and Johnny Bedford.
Prindle, Jackson, Rodriguez and Linderman will all be part of the promotion’s heavyweight tournament, with the first round being held on the June 2 card.
Bare knuckle in Wyoming will have weight classes like mixed martial arts and the ruleset will differ slightly from boxing, too. Clinch fighting is much more acceptable in the bare-knuckle rules, with fighters getting more leeway to punch with their free hand while tied up inside. Punches are the only strikes allowed.
More at Bare Knuckle FC promoting event as first state sanctioned bare-knuckle card in U.S. since 1889
This could be really great, but I'm worried that the bareknuckles are going to make certain fighters timid and the fights will stink. But I am very interested in seeing this.
the search feature is only really useful if you click "more...." and sort by date, a lot of people never even realise they can do thatI looked back several pages and did not find this thread until I used the search feature, something I think other users should probably use. It's on this Saturday night, 9PM ET on PPV. It's being aired on Fite.TV, so I'll give you guys the same shpeel that I've given for other Fite events to save a lot of money:
For those of you who want to watch this card this weekend, you can register with a new account with Fite.tv, use the referral code below, "like" Fite.tv on Twitter and Facebook through the Fite.tv app, and the card should be free or at the very least the next event you buy on it will be free. You can redeem those credits for the full purchase of the PPV, as far as I know, or if not you can apply those credits to any future purchases of events on that service.
A guide, compiled from elsewhere with a user named TeamFedor of how to do all this:
1. Grab your phone/mobile device.
2. Download the FITE TV app.
3. Sign up with your e-mail.
4. Redeem code (for example 6mop9gp).
5. "Like" Fite.tv on twitter and facebook through the app for bonus credits (1 credit = $1).
6. Buy the PPV.
7. Now back on your pc, go to fite.tv and find the BKFC card or through this link to the event (▷ Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship - The Beginning Official PPV Live Stream). Click on "already ordered", enter your email and password and you should be good to go.
This is the ring.
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship will have a host of familiar names on the card, including Bare Knuckle heavyweight champion Bobby Gunn, former UFC champion Ricco Rodriguez, kickboxer Maurice Jackson, former Bellator heavyweight Eric Prindle and former UFC fighters D.J. Linderman and Johnny Bedford.
Prindle, Jackson, Rodriguez and Linderman will all be part of the promotion’s heavyweight tournament, with the first round being held on the June 2 card.
Bare knuckle in Wyoming will have weight classes like mixed martial arts and the ruleset will differ slightly from boxing, too. Clinch fighting is much more acceptable in the bare-knuckle rules, with fighters getting more leeway to punch with their free hand while tied up inside. Punches are the only strikes allowed.
More at Bare Knuckle FC promoting event as first state sanctioned bare-knuckle card in U.S. since 1889
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I have no faith that Bec Rawlings is actually going to increase her output and it's depressing me immensely.
C
Ceiling Fan
Guest
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships
This is the best I have to offer. I don't know about their undercard, I'll keep looking.
C
Ceiling Fan
Guest
holy shit. quite excited about this. fucked up sport is bkb
haha
Lol a Hw barenuck tourney at 6k elevation
Hw needs to win 3 fights to win tourney
I predict a one handed heavy all gassed out final
Hw needs to win 3 fights to win tourney
I predict a one handed heavy all gassed out final
I only count 3 Hw quarterfinal fights
rivers are flowing if anyone needs them
C
Ceiling Fan
Guest
Ricco's main event is the fourth.
Done