Joe Riggs vs. Christian Evans
Former UFC, Bellator and Strikeforce veteran Joe ‘Diesel’ Riggs was something of a pioneer as far as MMA fighters crossing over to bare knuckle boxing, taking his first fight against Christian Evans for the BKB light-heavyweight World Championship at BKB 4 in England back in February of 2017.
Evans was an experienced bare knuckle boxer who had appeared on TV in the UK before as part of Channel 4’s ‘Bare Knuckle Fight Club’ documentary series, but this was a massive step up in competition.
At the same time, Riggs was completely new to the sport and that cost him dearly in the first two rounds as he instinctively looked to take Evans down several times, which of course is illegal in BKB and led to a points deduction.
Nevertheless, Riggs was clearly the better striker and more well-conditioned fighter, and in the third round he floored Evans with a right hand and opened up a nasty cut, then took command of the fight in the rounds that followed to win by unanimous decision and claim the title.
Rigs has since gone on to compete twice for the Bare Knuckle FC promotion, claiming unanimous decision victories over Brock Weaver and Heriberto Tovar.
