bare knuckle boxing

Tom Taylor - February 19, 2019

Dada 5000, the heavyweight street fighter best known for his role in the documentary Dawg Fight and his extremely forgettable Bellator fight with the late, great Kimbo Slice, is back. Just not as a fighter. Instead, Dada 5000 will be promoting a bare-knuckle fighting event. The event, titled BYB Brawl 1: Brawl For it All, goes down in Cheyenne, Wyoming on April 5. It will air on a number of pay-per-view services for $24.99.

Drake Riggs - February 15, 2019

Video credit: The Arena Gym In 2013, The Ultimate Fighter season 1 “bad boy” Chris Leben retired from MMA on the heels of a rough four-fight losing streak.

Drake Riggs - February 15, 2019

Featherweight MMA veteran Artem ‘The Russian Hammer’ Lobov recently parted ways with the UFC. But he wasn’t without a fighting home for long as he was quickly picked up by the premiere bare-knuckle boxing organization in the world, Bareknuckle Fighting Championship. For Lobov, he went 2-5 during his stint with the UFC. Three straight losses would lead to his release.

Tom Taylor - February 13, 2019

Artem Lobov has found a new home. The Conor McGregor training partner has signed a multi-fight deal with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships (BKFC) — not to be confused with WBKFF. He will make his BKFC debut opposite another fan favorite UFC veteran in Jason “The Kid” Knight on April 20.

Drake Riggs - February 2, 2019

That’s right! Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson is officially returning to the combat sports world! But fortunately for any possible opponents, he won’t be doing so as a fighter. At the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s (BKFC) fourth event on Saturday night in Cancun, Mexico it was announced that Anthony Johnson has joined the BKFC team.

Cole Shelton - January 31, 2019

Brad Pickett is a mixed martial arts legend, no question about it. The 40-year-old has fought 39 times as a professional and 18 of those fights occurred under the WEC or UFC banner. Pickett announced his retirement from the sport following his loss to Marlon Vera in March 2017. Now, however, he is set to return on March 30 in London, England — but it will not be an MMA fight. Rather, Pickett will be making his bare knuckle boxing debut, and for a BKB title belt no less.

Tom Taylor - January 15, 2019

On November 9, UFC veteran Isaac Vallie-Flagg stepped through the ropes of the World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation (WBKFF) ring for a gloveless scrap with Corey Simpson. More than two months later, Vallie-Flagg and many other fighters who competed on the inaugural WBKFF card are still awaiting payment. When Vallie-Flagg drew attention to his outstanding WBKFF payment on Twitter last week, he received a response from MMA legend Bas Rutten, who was appointed as WBKFF president ahead of the November card. Rutten assured Vallie-Flagg that his payment is coming soon, allegedly once WBKFF founder Tomasz Stankiewicz receives the pay-per-view revenue for the card.

Tom Taylor - December 20, 2018

On November 9, upstart bareknuckle fighting promotion World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation (WBKFF), held its first event. While this event generated significant public interest, in ended in chaos, as many of the fighters who competed on the card were not paid for their work. This week, the Wyoming Athletic Commission, the commission that oversaw the bout, issued a statement on this ugly ordeal (h/t Focus Fights).

Tom Taylor - December 12, 2018

WBKFF, the bare knuckle fighting promotion that held its first card on November 9 in Casper, Wyoming, has reportedly failed to pay many of its fighters that competed on the card. BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor was able to confirm with a number of fighters who competed on the card that payments are still outstanding. Several of these fighters claimed none of the fighters involved with the card have been paid.

Tom Taylor - November 18, 2018

Isaac Vallie-Flagg, who is a veteran of the Strikeforce and UFC cages, has seen pretty much everything when it comes to mixed martial arts. Last weekend, however, the MMA veteran ventured into a new and unfamiliar realm of combat sports: bare knuckle fighting. Vallie-Flagg did so as part of the inaugural show from upstart bare knuckle promotion World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation (WBKFF), battling Cory Simpson on the undercard of the event.

Tom Taylor - November 16, 2018

Last weekend, World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation (WBKFF) hosted its first event. The sans gloves card, which went down in Casper, Wyoming, was headlined by a middleweight scrap between UFC veterans Chris Leben and Phil Baroni, and also featured a showdown between former UFC welterweight champ Johny Hendricks and Dakota Cochrane. Originally, this inaugural WBKFF card was supposed to include quite a few other big names, such as former NFL player Shawne Merriman and former Bellator star Brennan War. Unfortunately, both of these stars withdrew from the card citing contract issues — which was certainly not a good look for the upstart bare knuckle promotion.

Chris Taylor - November 10, 2018

UFC veteran Chris Leben picked up his first win since 2011 at last nights “WBKFF1: Rise Of The Titans” event, defeating Phil Baroni by way of first-round TKO. “The Crippler” connected with a crisp punch that stunned Phil Baroni just seconds into the opening round. Shortly after that, “The New York Bad Ass” charged forward with a flurry but Chris Leben was able to land a beautiful counter left hand that sent Phil crashing face first into the canvas.

Christopher Taylor - November 9, 2018

Bare Knuckle Boxing took center stage tonight as WBKFF 1: Rise Of The Titans went down in Casper, Wyoming live from the Casper Events Center. Tonight’s event featured a handful of former UFC staples including former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks, Phil Baroni, Chris Leben, Josh Neer and Isaac Vallie-Flagg.

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

This Friday night the World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation is set to hold their very first event. However, it won’t be headlined by its original main event. Originally, the inaugural show for the WBKFF was to feature in its main event a middleweight showdown between former Bellator standout “Irish” Brennan Ward and former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks.

Christopher Taylor - October 21, 2018

Bare Knuckle FC 3 took place this past Saturday in Biloxi, Mississippi and featured a handful of MMA veterans including Kendall Grove and Joe Riggs. The pay-per-view event was headlined by a heavyweight championship fight between tournament finalists Arnold Adams and Sam Shewmaker.

Tom Taylor - October 19, 2018

Earlier this year, former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks retired from MMA. As it turns out, however, this retirement was short-lived. Hendricks is now gearing up for a foray into the bloody world of bareknuckle boxing, as he’s set to battle former Bellator welterweight contender Brennan Ward in the main event of the debut show from World Bareknuckle Fighting Federation (WBKFF) on November 9. From the sounds of it, it’s also possible that Johny Hendricks returns to MMA in the future too. Speaking on MMAjunkie Radio this week, the former welterweight kingpin shared his feeling that the skills he develops in his bareknuckle boxing training might add a new layer to his MMA game.

Tom Taylor - June 3, 2018

On Saturday night, legal, fully sanctioned bareknuckle boxing returned to America for the first time since 1889. The sport’s triumphant return came courtesy of upstart promotion Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. The promotion’s first card, which went down in Cheyenne, Wyoming, featured a number of combat sports notables, such as former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez, Bellator and UFC veteran Joey Beltran, heavyweight journeyman Tony Lopez, UFC veteran Bec Rawlings, and Bellator tournament winner Eric Prindle. Here are the full results from the bloody event (via MMAJunkie)

Russell Ess - December 1, 2016

In the early 90’s MMA was brought out of the underground and into the spotlight as it fueled the cravings for hungry Combat Sport fans in America. At a time when MMA was illegal in the U.S and competition was being held in wear houses, clubs and anywhere it could be organized out of the view of the public and more importantly, the authorities. Like BKB, MMA competitions had been organized in the U.S for many years, prior to the sport becoming accepted and a full blown mainstream sport. But, in the early 90’s a couple of shroud entrepreneurs with a vision to see the potential for the market by creating an MMA Organization to feed the hunger of demanding combat sports fans in America, came the birth of what we know today as the UFC.