The fledgling Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship had its first classic fight on Saturday night.
BKFC 5 in Biloxi, Miss. was headlined by a pair of recently released UFC veterans in Artem Lobov andJason Knight.
And while they were put in the main slot on their strength of their names, they earned it with their intensity in the ring.
For five wild, bloody, frenetic, exhausting two-minute rounds, the duo threw down in their 145-pound matchup to the delight of the crowd at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
Lobov scored three knockdowns in the bruising affair, which likely swayed the judges’ decision in his favor. The adopted Irishman by way of Russia earned the unanimous decision on a pair of 48-47 scores and a 48-46.
“I thought he was gone many times I dropped him three or four times tough tough kid kept coming and coming and coming,” Lobov said.
The tone for the fight was set in a ridiculous opening round. Lobov came out taunting with his hands down, then got dropped with his first punch, although it was erroneously ruled a slip by referee Dan Miragliotta. This set off a wild first round in which Knight scored another knockdown, which counted, and Lobov rallied for one of his own.
The second round was also fought at a furious pace, both guys landing big shots, with Knight landing the most skilled shots from distance and Lobov doing damage with his dirty boxing in close. Along the way, Lobov scored his second knockdown.
The pace slowed a bit in the third, but Lobov managed his third and final knockdown of the fight in the closing seconds.
In the fourth, Knight, whose face by this point was battered into an unrecognizable mess, found his second wind. He connected with a wicked right which wobbled Lobov. Lobov may have saved the fight by clinching long enough to get Miragliota to break, buying enough time to clear his head.
Lobov was visibly fading in the final round as Knight went for broke, but he wasn’t able to finish “The Russian Hammer” and didn’t do enough to swing the scorecards.
But don’t tell that to Knight, who had his hometown Mississippi fans behind him.
“Hey we all know I didn’t lose that fight, we all know I got robbed,” Knight said.
After the bout, BKFC president David Feldman said he was going to make a fight between Lobov and former world boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi for BKFC 6 on June 22. The duo got into a skirmish earlier this week at a media day in New York.
“Let’s do it,” Lobov said. “Malignaggi, he’s a little [expletive] [expletive] that plucks his eyebrows.
Chris Leben earns swift knockout victory
Popular longtime MMA vet Chris Leben wasted little time earning victory in his return to combat sports. Leben, whose last UFC fight was in 2013, needed just 25 seconds to knock out Northern California’s Justin Baesman in a 205-pound matchup.
Baesman is a veteran of both Bellator and World Series of Fighting who has lost his last 11 MMA bouts, and comepting in Bare Knuckle did little to change his fortune.
Leben rushed forward and connected with a wicked right hand, then the “Ultimate Figher 1” standout landed uppercut after uppercut in close until Baseman crumpled to the mat, ending things just as the fight was getting under way.
Chase Sherman gets odd split draw call against Sam Shewmaker
Former UFC heavyweight Chase Sherman’s Bare Knuckle debut ended with an odd result, as their fight went to a split draw. The judges’ scores were a truly bizarre 50-45 for Sherman, 48-47 for Shewmaker, and a 48-48.
Sam Shewmaker appeared to get the better of Sherman over the course of five rounds, finding a home with his left hand that busted up Sherman’s right eye and caused it to gradually shut.
Mississippi’s Sherman, who is 2-0 in MMA with a pair of first-round TKOs on the independent circuit since he left the UFC late last year, found his best success with body shots and landed occasional counters. That was enough work to put the fight’s closer rounds into play, which enabled Sherman to eke out the draw after 10 minutes of action.
Full BKFC 5 results:
- Artem Lobov def. Jason Knight via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-46).
- Chris Leben def. Justin Baesman via KO – Round 1, 0:25
- Christine Ferea def. Britain Hart via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) — Round 2, 1:09 (Ferea wins American women’s featherweight title)
- Chase Sherman vs. Sam Shewmaker, split draw (50-45, 47-48, 48-48)
- Reggie Barnett def. Rusty Crowder in a lightweight tournament semifinal via unanimous decision (50-44, 50-44, 50-44)
- Isaac Vallie-Flagg def. Randy Hederick via TKO — Round 3, 1:22
- Johnny Bedford def. Abdiel Velasquez in a lightweight tournament semifinal via KO —Round 4, 0:15
- Harris Stephenson def. Khalib Harris via split decision (50-47, 47-48, 49-46)
- Sheena Starr def. Ivana Coleman via KO —Round 2, 0:37
- Bobo O’Bannon def. Troy Beets via TKO — Round 4
For more on BKFC 5, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.
