Jason Knight plans on making more money in his bare knuckle debut than he made fighting for MMA’s leading promotion.
Jason Knight will headline Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 5 opposite Artem Lobov, and looks to cash in on a significant payday.
Knight spoke to Kajan Johnson and Shakiel Mahjouri on an unreleased episode of the Pull No Punches podcast about everything bare knuckle heading into Saturday’s event.
“I’m going to be making more than I made in my last UFC fight,” he told the hosts. “I think the money is pretty good. I lost my last one, I made $36,000. If everything goes the way it should I’ll make more than that for sure.”
As for Lobov, “I heard that he’s making $50,000 to fight me. He put out there that he is making six figures in three fights.”
An all-out brawl often involves two willing parties, but Knight refuses to engage in such silliness.
“I don’t plan on going out here and having a slug-fest with Artem Lobov,” he assured, pronouncing the Russian’s name “La-bove” with a lovely southern drawl. “That is what everyone is looking for, but I’m going to be moving. I’m going to have my head moving and my hands up.”
“If he comes at me trying to knock me out, and doesn’t know how he is going to do it, he is going to be in for a long night,” Knight continued. “He tries to knock you out but he never thinks about how to do it. He’s gonna just throw looping punches straight from his waist with his chin in the air. He’s going to walk into a bunch of punches… he is probably one of the dumb asses that breaks his knuckles within the first round.”
So what does the future hold for Knight? “I signed a one fight deal with Bareknuckle because I wanted to fight this fight near my hometown,” he shared. “After this, I’m going to try and get my black belt and do some submission-only tournaments. If somebody else wants to pick me up later this deal, good. If Bareknuckle has a bad-ass deal I might jump on that. I’m trying to leave my options open.”
One thing is certain: “I’m going to embarrass Artem Lobov and make sure he never fights Bareknuckle again. That is my plan.”
BKFC 5 takes place on Saturday, April 6 at Mississippi Coast Colesium in Biloxi, Mississippi. The event airs on FITE.tv.