Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s fifth event took place over the weekend, with former UFC fighters Artem Lobov and Jason Knight throwing down in a blood-soaked brawl that had the combat sports world buzzing. It was a thrilling affair for five rounds that ended with Lobov earning a hard-fought unanimous decision.
Not that trying to predict pay-per-view numbers based on social media is necessarily accurate, but if you happened to be on Twitter on Saturday night, you’d have noticed there was a huge buzz around BKFC 5. This web site’s traffic numbers certainly seemed to indicate major interest in the event. So what is it about bare-knuckle fighting that people seem to be so drawn to it? MMA Junkie’s Ben Fowlkes, Mike Bohn and Dave Doyle sound off in this edition of “Triple Take.”
Ben Fowlkes: An audience that grew up on cage fighting is ready for something more extreme
It feels like forever ago that MMA fans and fighters and promoters were constantly playing defense. We had to argue that our sport wasn’t too brutal or barbaric. We had to make a case for its athletic value. We had to be constantly on the lookout for the pearl-clutchers who wanted to shut it down and brand us all bloodthirsty savages.
Those days are mostly gone. These days, the sport once derided as “human cockfighting” is on ESPN. It’s background noise in sports bars. Everybody’s seen it and more or less made up their minds up about it. It’s no big deal.
But see, that has a downside, as well. Because how do you sell the sheer spectacle of a prize fight when it’s all become so normal, just an expected part of the pro sports routine? That’s an especially challenging question for new promoters who don’t have the benefit of an existing brand name in the sport.
That’s the world that BKFC promoter David Feldman is dealing with, and bare-knuckle boxing is his answer. It works, too, because how can we not at least perk up our ears when we hear about it. Training professionals are going to strike each other in the face with bare fists? And with none of this grappling stuff getting in the way? That’s the Woodstock of the stand-and-bang crowd, right there. What more could you want?
Well, maybe some fighters willing to do it. And that’s exactly what BKFC has found in a series of former MMA fighters who were never known for their reluctance to sustain and deliver damage. Over here, in this world, their lack of defensive priorities is now a feature rather than a bug. And the fact that they don’t have too many better offers doesn’t hurt either.
It’s a perfect marriage, for the time being. But may the gods of combat have mercy on us if this gets too normal to be novel. I’m not sure I want to see whatever’s coming next.
Next page – Mike Bohn: The cast of characters makes it work … for now
Mike Bohn: The cast of characters makes it work … for now
One thing that BKFC deserves some credit for is its ability to effectively pick and choose fighters that fit the identity of the organization and have been able to thrive in a bare-knuckle environment.
From the very first event that was obvious. Remember that insane slugfest between the consistently reliable Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran and Tony Lopez on the debut Bare Knuckle FC card last June? Or how about Bec Rawlings, who at best was a mid-tier fighter in the UFC, completely thriving and reinventing herself under the BKFC banner? Few truly “cared” about her in the UFC, but now she’s among the faces of exposed-fist scraps.
The latest offering was an even more prime example. Lobov would get shine no matter where he went post-UFC because of his cult-like following and association with Conor McGregor, but Knight did himself wonders with the performance. After washing out of the UFC on four-straight losses, how much interest would he garner fighting on a Bellator card in Thackerville, Okla., or traveling to Jakarta for ONE Championship? Now he’s required viewing for BKFC.
And don’t try to argue that the likes of Chris Leben, Chase Sherman, Johnny Bedford, and more don’t fit the mold that BKFC is laying out. It works, but of course the commonality between all these people is the MMA background and crossover. How much are the unknowns like Bobo O’Bannon and Arnold Adams (yes, those are real names) resonating with the common viewer? Not much, it seems.
That appears to be fine with Feldman, though. He said he’ll continue to seek out names that work for BKFC. It’s been just 10 months since the debut card, and the goal is signing fighters who will help grow the brand.
“If you’re the right fighter, and I don’t just mean a guy who can fight,” Feldman said. “I mean if you can sell yourself, come over and we can talk. We want to pay you the money you deserve to make because you’re going to get the Bare Knuckle name out there. It’s more of a fighter thing, but it’s also a marketing thing, too, because we’re new. We’re going to pay the guys that sell this fight for us.”
Feldman’s strategy has been rather effective so far. Time will tell if that holds up long term, but so far Feldman has found ways to continue to get people to come back for more.
Next page – Dave Doyle: Backlash against BKFC misses the point
Dave Doyle: Backlash against BKFC misses the point
I watched Bare Knuckle FC 5 as part of my first Saturday night here at MMAJunkie.com, and, I can’t lie: I was enthralled by the battle between Artem Lobov and Jason Knight. It was a compelling display of heart and valor, one of the most exciting fights in all of combat sports so far in 2019.
Then Sunday, I went poked around on Twitter and found a considerable backlash, largely from people who couldn’t be bothered actually watching the show. Terms like “barbaric” and “degrading” were thrown around, along with a healthy dose of fretting over what this says about our society.
Really? We’re just one generation removed from the time when boxing types who didn’t actually watched the UFC sneered at mixed martial arts using those precise terms. Out-of-touch, gray-haired newspaper editors and columnists bristled with self-importance over the idea they should deign to write about this sport.
Have we in the MMA world already turned into those tiresome, closed-minded people just one generation later? God, I hope not.
There was one criticism of BKFC which had a degree of validity (at least from those who bothered to watch before issuing damning proclamations): The level of skill displayed on the show isn’t exactly major league.
That’s fair. I didn’t include “skill” in the reasons why I found Lobov-Knight compelling. You could also make the case about the early days of the UFC. Check out UFC 1, featuring Art Jimmerson with his one glove, Telia Tuli and his newly missing tooth, or Patrick Smith and his “250-0” record. Omaha police officer Steve Jennum won UFC 3 as an alternate; he ended with a career record of 2-3. None of that screams “world-class talent.”
No, fans were drawn to the stripped-down, back-to-basics spectacle the early UFC provided. And when the sport found success, better and better athletes became involved, and it eventually grew into what it is today.
Maybe bareknuckle boxing will evolve in a similar manner. Probably it won’t. Maybe it will be a fad which burns out, like old-school Toughman competitions. Most likely it continues to fill a niche for the foreseeable future.
Lobov said on MMA Junkie Radio he’s making better money in BKFC than he was in the UFC. If that’s true, then I’m fine with fighters who would otherwise get lost in the shuffle after their UFC release hustling a payday for something they choose to do of their own volition.
Don’t like it? Don’t watch it. But BKFC has obviously found an audience who enjoys the product, and no one is being forced to do this against their will, so spare the rest of us the same tired disses ignorant people were making about mixed martial arts not that long ago.
For more on the upcoming schedule, check out the Rumors section of the site.
