The first legal bare-knuckle boxing match in 130 years is about to take place
When you hear “bare-knuckle boxing,” you probably think of two gentlemen with handlebar mustaches prancing and jabbing in the 1800s, or Edward Norton getting bloody in “Fight Club.”
It’s not a sport you usually see outside of history and Hollywood.
Until this weekend.
In Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Saturday, a lineup of former boxers and MMA fighters will square off in the first state-sanctioned bare-knuckle boxing card in the U.S. in 130 years.
It will be the debut event of the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, and the organization’s president touts it as “the start of a new era in combat sports.”
“Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship will combine the incredibly rich history of bare knuckle under the Broughton and London Prize Ring Rules, with a modern rule set for this generation,” David Feldman told reporters in April when the BKFC was unveiled. “By showcasing professional fighters from a wide array of disciplines, we want to answer the question: Who is the best pure striker on the planet?”
Some of the participants Saturday will be familiar to fighting fans: Former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez, former Bellator heavyweight Eric Prindle and former boxer Paul Spadafora are on the Cheyenne card, as is bare-knuckle legend Bobby Gunn, who owns a reported record of 73-0.
It will also feature what Feldman says is the “first-ever” women’s bare-knuckle bout, with former UFC fighter Bec Rawlings taking on boxer Alma Garcia.
As you would expect, BKFC fighters will not wear gloves; they will just have hand wraps that end an inch from their knuckles.
The bare-knuckle bouts will be under the auspices and control of the Wyoming Combative Sports Commission, whose chairman believes BKFC is less hazardous than other combat sports.
“We already regulate sanction MMA and kickboxing,” Bryan Pedersen told MMA Fighting. “And in both of those you can receive a knee to the head, a shin kick to the head and an elbow to the head. That’s all heavy, heavy blunt-force trauma. So hand striking scores far lower than that. I think you’ll see far less concussive blows to fighters, and that’ll protect everybody.”
One of the fights Saturday pits Reggie Barnett Jr. of Chesapeake, Virginia, against Travis “The Animal” Thompson.
Barnett told The Virginian-Pilot he feels born for bare-knuckle boxing.
“Not everybody is built for it,” he said. “But me? I don’t mind. Bloody lip? Busted nose? My nose is crooked. It’s been broken many a time. You just fight through it. I feed off that.
“If you hit me as hard as you can and you didn’t knock me down or knock me out? It’s a wrap.”
The BKFC card Saturday will air on pay-per-view for $29.99.
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