Author: Dan Hiergesell

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) staged one of its biggest events of the year last night (Fri., Feb. 17, 2023) as KnuckleMania 3 unfolded live from inside Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The card proved to be one of the more memorable events the promotion has ever put on.

In the main event of the evening, BKFC light heavyweight champion Lorenzo Hunt retained his title with a massive comeback knockout win over Mike Richman. Also on the card, UFC legend Diego Sanchez made his BKFC debut only to get battered and bloodied by former world boxing champion Austin Trout. Former NFL star and UFC heavyweight Greg Hardy also made his BKFC debut, losing to Josh Watson by vicious knockout.

Despite all of that action, a women’s bout between Jayme Hinshaw and Charisa Sigala may have produced the most gruesome result of KnuckleMania 3. The only female fight on the card saw Hinshaw clobber Sigala with a massive right hand in Round 1 that sent her crashing to the canvas. Unfortunately, Sigala’s ankle got caught up in the fall and she suffered a pretty gnarly injury. One that is rarely seen inside of the boxing ring (bare knuckle or not). Sigala was tough enough to try to return to her feet, but it wasn’t happening.

Check out the final moments below:

1The filming for next season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) just got underway and Conor McGregor is already being ridiculed for reportedly hand-picking his own fighters to be on the show.

As filming gets underway for the 31st season of TUF, McGregor and fellow lightweight Michael Chandler have traveled to Las Vegas to start coaching their respective teams. It’s been over seven years since “Notorious” last stepped foot on the TUF set and nearly three years since he last competed inside of the Octagon. Needless to say, this is a big opportunity for McGregor to return to the MMA limelight and resubmerge himself into the sport.

Unfortunately, reports are already beginning to swirl that McGregor had three contestants removed from the newest installment of TUF in favor of his own fighters. It’s reminiscent of the way Artem Lobov was treated by McGregor during his last coaching stint on the show. The recent reports have already left a bad taste in the mouths of fight fans.

Luckily, they may not be true. After UFC middleweight Chris Curtis re-posted the report of McGregor hand-picking TUF fighters the Irish superstar responded to deny the allegations. According to McGregor, he only has one fighter from his inner circle competing on the show and he’s already matched up against the No. 1 pick.

“@Actionman513 not true,” wrote McGregor in a since deleted tweet. “I only know 1 guy on this show and he put himself forward for it. And he is now, after today, set to fight the No. 1 seed! I didn’t ask nor request nothing! And I certainly didn’t have people removed. I’m just tryna get back in the mix myself so f—k off.”

McGregor, who remains the biggest star in combat sports despite another lengthy layoff, may or may not be telling the truth. The promotion has allowed the former UFC double champ to call his shots in the past and hand-picking contestants for the next season of TUF may have been a stipulation for McGregor to come back and coach the show. We’ll never truly know.

What we do know is the filming of TUF is officially underway and McGregor will make his long-awaited return to the Octagon later this year in an exciting matchup with Chandler.

What do you think? Is McGregor telling the truth?

Let’s hear it!

The bad blood boiled over into the ring last night (Fri., Feb. 17, 2023) at BKFC KnuckleMania 3 from inside Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, N.M., as BKFC light heavyweight champion Lorenzo Hunt put his belt on the line in a main event clash with former Bellator MMA standout Mike Richman. The title fight ended in a massive knockout with seconds remaining in the first round.

Hunt and Richman were caught up in some serious pre-fight trash talk, including a press conference brawl that literally broke the stage (watch HERE). So to say the bad blood was at an all-time high for this main event showdown would be an understatement. Both light heavyweights wanted to end the other in the most violent manner possible.

Richman, who is no stranger to a brawl, looked to be in control in the early going and even scored a significant knockdown of Hunt. That’s when the champion returned to his feet and proceeded to flatline Richman with a monstrous right hand. Richman went limp to the canvas and Hunt retained his title with his most memorable BKFC performance to date.

Check out the video highlights below:

Diego Sanchez left a lot to be desired in his bare knuckle boxing debut Friday night (Feb. 17, 2023) at BKFC KnuckleMania 3 from inside Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, N.M., as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) legend was bloodied and battered by former WBA Jr. middleweight world champion Austin Trout.

Sanchez hasn’t competed professionally since parting ways with UFC back in Sept. 2020 following a decision loss to welterweight Jake Matthews. “Nightmare” had a brief stopover at Eagle FC, but ended up losing a decision to fellow UFC veteran Kevin Lee in Mar. 2022. He’s been gearing up for a return to combat sports ever since and Friday night was supposed to be his coming out party.

Unfortunately for Sanchez, he met a more skilled and technical puncher. Trout was able to batter Sanchez for the majority of the fight as the former UFC contender plodded forward trying to connect on anything he could. Eventually, Sanchez had absorbed too much damage to an already bloody face and the referee/doctor was forced to step in for the fourth-round TKO stoppage.

Check out the video highlights below:

Former NFL star and UFC heavyweight Greg Hardy felt the wrath of bare knuckle boxing Friday night (Feb. 17, 2023) at BKFC KnuckleMania 3 from inside Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, N.M., losing to combat veteran Josh Watson via second-round knockout.

Hardy, who parted ways with UFC back in Mar. 2022 after posting a 4-5 (1 NC) record, was making his Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) debut in what many expected to be a victory. After all, “Prince of War” had won back-to-back professional boxing fights to end 2022 and has proven to be a serious knockout puncher.

Unfortunately for Hardy, Watson was game to play spoiler. The heavyweight fighter caught Hardy with a nasty left hand counter in the second round that planted the former UFC contender. Hardy was left sprawled out as Watson taunted him in victory. It was not the bare knuckle boxing debut Hardy was hoping for and a performance he’ll soon try to forget.

Check out the full fight highlights below:

Jon Anik has called hundreds of fights as the official play-by-play announcer for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), but the veteran broadcaster experienced a first last week at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia.

In attendance to call one of the biggest fights on paper in UFC history, Anik witnessed reigning featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski, move up in weight to try to become double champ by beating lightweight titleholder, Islam Makhachev. This all went down in Volkanovski’s backyard of Australia so tension was at an all time high.

Unfortunately for Volkanovski, the judges ended up awarding Makhachev the unanimous decision win after a super-close, five-round affair. In fact, many people still believe Volkanovski did enough in one of his most impressive performances to date to claim the 155-pound strap and call himself a two-division champion.

That didn’t happen, though, and the Australian fans in attendance were not too happy when the final decision was read to close out UFC 284. They even started to throw food in the direction of the Octagon.

“After the decision was announced is the first time that I’ve ever — I’m sure it’s not the first time people have thrown stuff in our direction — [but] it’s the first time I’ve ever been hit with a burger and fries on the back, and it certainly felt a lot heavier than french fries,” Anik told MMA Fighting.

“On the Anik & Florian podcast, we tried to lead the dance with the technical stuff and the fight itself as opposed to the scorecards. But when so much is at stake, I understand why people who are emotional and passionate have their opinions, and I think the sport at its highest level is so close, and the elite fights between elite fighters oftentimes are the ones that are the most hotly contested.

“There’s any number of different directions in which we could go. The pound-for-pound discussion is largely a cosmetic one. I do believe that the next fights for Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski are bigger, and I would say in terms of the [UFC 284 fight’s] heightening expectations, you could argue it exceeded them.”

Despite all of the backlash Makhachev has received for allegedly taking an IV before his main event fight with Volkanovski and the fact that he nearly lost his lightweight reign to a 145-pounder, Anik believes fight fans need to credit the Dagestani fighter for his efforts.

“People say, ‘Oh, his first title defense [he] should have fought Benny Dariush, instead, he’s plucking a featherweight,’” Anik said. “Plucking a featherweight? He fought the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world who has a one-inch reach advantage against him, who twice backed up to be the guy in a lightweight championship fight. So the road was kind of paved for Makhachev, and he went into the belly of the beast, and did it in Perth, which, in theory, he didn’t necessarily have to do.

“So I would like to lead the dance as far as people who want to give Islam credit for going five rounds for the first time, for going toe-to-toe with his pound-for-pound equal in a lot of respects. You can sort of split hairs when it comes to the weight and the size and everything else, but I think it’s gonna be a very competitive rematch. I think the betting line is going to be significantly closer the second time around; I think the stock for both gentlemen goes up certainly. It would be hard to argue against Volkanovski’s stock going up, but can Islam get a modicum of credit folks for his part in all of this? This was not him sort of plucking off somebody from the lighter weight class for [his first] title defense.”

Do you agree with Anik? Does Makhachev deserve our credit?

Sound off!

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