The Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship has had some momentum for the past couple of years. Still, ever since Conor McGregor became a co-owner of the promotion, things have gone to another level.
BKFC takes a massive step from a distribution standpoint on Saturday. The combat sports promotion won’t just be in Spain for an event; BKFC Spain also marks the beginning of the brand’s partnership with DAZN.
The event occurs at Marbella Arena in Spain, featuring three BKFC title fights and an interesting crossover bout.
Here’s how you can watch and some details on the event.
- Date: October 12
- Time: 1 pm ET
- Watch: DAZN
Here is a look at the entire card.
- (c) Franco Tenaglia vs. Tony “Loco” Soto – Lightweight Championship
- (c) Austin Trout vs. Rico Franco – Welterweight Championship
- (c) David Mundell vs. Danny Christie – Middleweight Championship
- Dan Chapman vs. Mike Jurik – Featherweight
- Yunus Batan vs. Maxime Bellamy – 175 Pounds
- Felipe Da Silva Maia vs. James Lilley – Lightweight
- Arbi Chakaev vs. Jose Daniel – Light Heavyweight
- Hannah Rankin vs. Deborah Melhorn – Women’s Featherweight
- Fran Suarez vs. David Mora – Lightweight
- Nico Gaffie vs. Radek Stadler – Featherweight
- Ben “Bane” Davis vs. Oscar Stephen-Willis – Lightweight
In addition to the fights, McGregor is expected to be on hand, which could mean some spicy comments are coming from the promotion’s co-owner, who still has two fights remaining on his UFC contract.
Mundell is in the conversation for the greatest bare-knuckle fighter in history. He’s had a whopping nine bouts and won eight of them. Mundell has been in combat sports for over a decade, with stops on the old Dana White Lookin’ For a Fight series, Bellator, and more.
However, he has seemingly found his niche in BKFC. Mundell’s fight with Muhammad Lawal was scheduled for September, but it fell through, and the former is back to defend his title against Christie in the first title fight of the event.
Trout is a former world champion in boxing. It could be argued that he is the most accomplished combat sports athlete outside of bare-knuckle boxing who regularly competes in BKFC.
While he’s only had two wins in BKFC, he is the reigning welterweight champion, and he, too, has found another rung on his combat sports ladder with the promotion.
Trout defends his title against a bare-knuckle veteran in Franco. The latter has been competing in bare-knuckle boxing since 2018, and his experience could threaten Trout.
In the main event, champion Tenaglia has always excelled in bare knuckle. He has a 4-1 record in the sport and won the BKFC lightweight title in his last fight with the promotion, a majority decision over James Lilley in April. Tenaglia is back for his first defense against bare-knuckle boxing sensation Tony Soto.
Soto, 37, is 6-0 in BKFC, and he’s getting his first shot at a title with the promotion.
The prelims have an exciting fight set to kick things off. Mac Life journalist Oscar Willis and UFC Fight Pass, Misfits Boxing, and DAZN broadcast journalist Ben Davis will clash in an amateur bout.
Davis is no stranger to competing in combat sports.
The 24-year-old has competed in professional grappling, boxing, and an exhibition karate match. Davis is 1-2 in his combat sports endeavors, but he cut this promo on media day for the event.
UFC President Dana White said he would be watching the event because of this fight, which makes it the first time I can remember him publicly saying he would watch another combat sports promotion’s show–besides boxing.
It’ll be a busy Saturday for combat sports with Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol battling for the undisputed light heavyweight title in boxing, Brandon Royval taking on Tatsuro Taira with a title shot in reach for the latter if he wins in UFC.
Stay tuned for more fight week coverage across the board.
