Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship returns with another show Friday, March 19.- Insider previously dubbed BKFC "the bloodiest show in town," and it is yet to disappoint.
- BKFC boss
David Feldman said there's no secrets about the firm's growth - it's all about the bloody bouts.
Running a combat
BKFC held "KnuckleMania" on February 5, its first event of the year, which featured the bare knuckle debutante and former UFC star
VanZant lost a competitive fight but it was Hart who attracted headlines throughout the world because of a promo she cut after the win, telling fans she's not a person - she's a feeling.
"And all of you guys are going to feel it," she said.
Fast forward a month and Feldman's firm is back for its second event of 2021 with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 16 in Biloxi, Mississippi.
It's been sold out for weeks, Feldman told us, but the event can be viewed online via the BKFC app in the US, and Fite TV internationally.
"It's been a tough year, man, trying to do anything. Especially just living, but also growing a business," Feldman told Insider from his office on a Zoom call recently.
"'KnuckleMania' was the most successful event we've ever done, most expensive show we've ever put on, but it was our most profitable show," he said.
"Those things are really good metrics for us. We were able to take a chance like that during COVID and reap the rewards financially, in media, and on social media. It all blew up.
"We were on our way to turning the corner, but we turned the corner with that event and I think right now that people, not general people, but big-time combat sports people, are taking us a lot more seriously now."
There is no hidden secret to BKFC's growth, according to Feldman
The rising interest in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, from fight fans and media, is simple, Feldman said.
It's a case of making good fights that build a good event, with a production quality that increases with every show the company holds.
"We consistently put on good fights and good events. We step up our production in every event, we have bigger names involved, and we're putting on great fights.
"Whenever you tune into a combat sports event you want to see action," said Feldman.
"You want to see a good fight. And we definitely do not disappoint in that box at all. We give a non-stop event that is fast-paced with lots of excitement all night long. And that's what people want to see.
"This is the realest combat sport out there," Feldman said.
One of the questions he gets asked most, Feldman said, is why he thinks BKFC can succeed.
"I think it's because it's more adaptable to the common person. If I saw you on the street and walked up to you, and I said, 'Do you know what a fist-fight is?' Everyone in the world knows what that is.
"But if I asked you, 'What is an omoplata?' or, 'Do you know how to do an armbar?' People aren't necessarily going to know, and I'm not taking anything away from the great sport of
"But I think the common fan can identify with us more easily. It's a little more visual than MMA. The cuts and swellings … yeah, that happens.
"But we also have a really great study that was done that proves we have less concussions, less facial fractures, and less hand breaks.
"The only thing we have more of than
"We're in a great position to expand further because everyone knows what bare knuckle fighting is."
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is the bloodiest show in town
Feldman promoted six events in 2020 - five of which were in the COVID-era.
Before that a bloody bout between Artem Lobov and Jason Knight that headlined Feldman's fifth Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship event in 2019 was the best-known event in BKFC history at that point.
The fight helped put the fledgling firm on the combat map because of how grueling but awesome it looked.
In the next event, Feldman managed to recruit Paulie Malignaggi - a former world champion boxer - into his ring for a grudge match against Lobov, a teammate of Conor McGregor's, who Malignaggi has a checkered history with.
It is big-name signings such as these, together with highlight-reel moments like Uly Diaz's three-second knockout win in 2020, that have helped fuel fan and media interest.
"Uly is a good guy, does a lot of work for charity and his community, and so it's great to see something good happen to him," Feldman said of the record-breaking finish which he claims is the fastest in any combat sport ever.
That it happened in front of celebrity fighters in Miami makes it even sweeter, Feldman said. "We had stars in attendance, big UFC names, and they were all like, 'Holy s---!' What is this stuff?
"But nobody is breaking Uly's record. And it's so sweet because Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is a little idea we came up with 10 years ago and now here we are, with the world's fastest combat sports knockout."
As for KnuckleMania, there was a women's bout early in the event that threatened to overshadow VanZant's debut. Two American women, Taylor Starling and Charisa Sigala, received a standing ovation for a featherweight bloodbath.
"That was what that event was all about - getting new eyes on it with every new eye falling in love with it."
The evolution since Feldman fought underground bare knuckle in the 90s is vast
Feldman is a former fighter himself and competed in underground-style bare knuckle bouts three decades ago.
The evolution in the sport since then has been vast, he said, and things have kept moving on since he founded BKFC in 2018.
"To gain fans, you draw them over with the big fight but you get them to watch the entire card, and then they start becoming fans. That's the plan, and that's how the sport is evolving.
"We're accepted now," he said. "And we're more accepted in the combat sports community. The better boxers, MMA fighters, UFC fighters, former world champions, they're reaching out now because they see an opportunity.
"Not just an opportunity to make money because they can make money in both sports, but an opportunity to stand out more here.
It's easier to stand out in bare knuckle fighting, Feldman added, because there are "only 300 or 400 bare knuckle fighters in the entire world."
Feldman reintroduces the 46-year-old former boxer DeMarcus Corley to the fight world with his next event Friday.
"It's crazy … on one hand, I'm thinking he might walk through the competition because he's still in tremendous shape even though he's a little older, and hasn't taken a lot of beatings. He lost a fairly close decision to Floyd Mayweather.
"And then you have Reggie Barnett Jr. who is one of the faces of our company right now."
Feldman said new recruits from other combat disciplines may struggle with bare knuckle because punches just feel different.
"It's different when you get hit with a bare knuckle, and it's different when you get clinched in the back of the neck. So it will be interesting to see how he reacts to that, and if he reacts to that good, then we're in great shape and we'll see what happens.
"If he doesn't, that's great too as we've got Reggie Barnett Jr. there and he's a great guy, a great fighter, and a great part of our company - that's why that match-up is so intriguing.
"In the co-main event, we have Bobo O'Bannon and Arnold Adams, who is our first-ever champion. And in main event we've got the ever-popular Leonard Garcia fighting Joe Elmore - so it's just a stacked card.
"This could be the most exciting night of fights we've ever had."