Bare Knuckle FC Made its Debut Last Night in Cheyenne, Wyoming, With Plenty of Familiar Faces. WARNING: These Highlights Are Not For The FaintHearted…
After months of promotion, the first ever Bare Knuckle FC went down last night, with as many bloody faces as you’d expect by the end of the night. Familiar faces on the card included former UFC fighter Bec Rawlings, Joey Beltran, and former heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez.
The night’s action took place in the Cheyenne Ice and Events Center, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was available to watch on Pay-Per-View and it will be really interesting to see how well it does because it definitely captures a niche in the market.
All the fighters showed up and threw down with each other. There was blood, knockouts, doctor’s stoppages, and plenty of heart. Fighters fought with their hands and wrists wrapped, to minimize breakages, with the knuckles uncovered. Prepare for some primal action.
Fight of the Night
Without a doubt, the fight of the night was Joey Beltran vs Tony Lopez, a 90-fight veteran. The pair faced off and threw down until their faces resembled bloody steaks. In the first three rounds of five, Beltran absolutely battered Lopez.
However, in round four, the veteran came back into it, bringing this vicious bout down to the wire. He poured on the offense, but in the end, Beltran managed to hang on to escape with a hard-fought win. Crazy stuff as you can see above.
Rawlings Returns
Perhaps an unexpected face on the card was Bec Rawlings. The former UFC fighter has fought the likes of Tecia Torres and Paige Vanzant in the past. She was released after a series of losses but was expected to join Invicta. Nope, she’s happy to go bare-knuckle style.
Her fight against Alma Garcia was another vicious and hard-fought contest. The co-main event of the night, Rawlings unleashed clinical strike after strike on her opponent. She managed to force the Doctor’s stoppage on Garcia at the end of the second round.
Striking in bare-knuckle boxing is different to MMA and regular boxing because the hand moves faster and is harder to block. Fighters are also way more liable to break their hands so they have to be selective with their punches. While faces get minced up, the actual trauma on the brain is less than being hit with a gloved fist.
Dubious
It would be a professional fight event without at least one dodgy decision, would it? Bare Knuckle FC 1 was no different. 72-fight bare-knuckle boxing veteran Bobby Gunn was fighting Irineu Beato Costa Jr when he struck with a body shot after 41 seconds. Costa Jr. folded and Gunn was given the KO. What do you think? Solid liver shot or dodgy call?
All in all, Bare Knuckle FC made a successful debut. It remains to be seen whether or not it becomes anything more than a novelty. There’s definitely going to be a hardcore element who will love it though. For many, the current form of the UFC with fighters like Sage Northcutt and Paige VanZant is just too sanitized. They want primal bloody violence!
