We are LIIIIVVVVEEEEE!
Well, we will be in a few hours. Coming to a monitor (or casted screen) near you tonight (Sat., Dec. 2, 2023), live from inside Maverick Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, it’s Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) 56. While it stinks that we lost a really good matchup between Ben Rothwell and Todd Duffee (details here), this is still a heck of a lineup, featuring BKFC’s biggest name, “Platinum” Mike Perry, facing off with another ex-mixed martial arts (MMA) star, Eddie Alvarez.
Also on the card — and stop me if you’ve read this line before — but we’ve got more former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) names competing, with a feature matchup between Jeremy Stephens vs. Jimme Rivera.
Oh, and there’s three title fights … no big deal.
The reigning champ at 125 pounds, Christine Ferea, will rematch OnlyFans pioneer, Bec Rawlings, hoping to put an end to their competition that looked to be prematurely cut short by a doctor’s stoppage this past April. Meanwhile, 145-pound kingpin, Kai Stewart, will defend his gold against top-ranked contender, Howard Davis, and the big boy strap is also on the line, as Arnold Adams and Mick Terrill will compete for vacant gold.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire BKFC 56 fight card below, starting with the ‘Prelims’ undercard on YouTube at 8 p.m. ET (watch it here), followed by the FITE.tv main card start time at 10 p.m. ET.
#BKFC56 post press conference…. Who ya got on Saturday’s main event? pic.twitter.com/0yCi4mC1wH
— Bare Knuckle FC (@bareknucklefc) December 1, 2023
BKFC 56: ‘Perry Vs. Alvarez’ Quick Results:
Mike Perry def. Eddie Alvarez — TKO (corner stoppage) 2:00, Rd. 2
Christine Ferea def. Bec Rawlings — Decision: 50-45 x3
Kai Stewart def. Howard Davis — Decision: 49-46 x2, 48-47
Mick Terrill def. Arnold Adams — KO, 0:47, Rd. 4
Jeremy Stephens def. Jimmie Rivera — TKO, 0:00, Rd. 4 — HIGHLIGHTS!
Ben Moa def. Bridger Bercier — TKO, 0:53, Rd. 3
Erick Lozano def. Mike Jones — KO, 1:12, Rd. 2
BKFC 56: ‘Perry Vs. Alvarez’ Play-By-Play Updates:
Mike Perry vs. Edie Alvarez
Round 1: Alvarez in white, Perry in white and gray. Perry lands the first blow with a left. Eddie gets in a counter left of his own. Perry with a short right hand and an uppercut a few seconds later. Alvarez replies with a couple of shots. Big left by Alvarez wobbles Perry for a second. Nice jab by Alvarez, too. He’s landing a lot of volume and with enough pop to hurt Perry. Jab and later a double-jab by Alvarez. Alvarez landing early and often. Perry’s got a cut on his nose.
10-9 Alvarez
Round 2: Perry looks like he is treating Alvarez with disdain, and Alvarez made him pay often that first round. Perry looking like he realized that Alvarez can do damage to him and he needed to stop BS’ing. Perry winging hard. Cut on the ‘brow of Alvarez. He lands and Eddie is backed up to the ropes. He looks hurt. Eddie fires back and lands both the 1 and the 2. Both men landing repeatedly. Perry still not working on a lot of defense, so he’s getting hit, but he’s landed well this round.
10-9 Perry in a close round
Round 3: Uh… what happened? Alvarez’s corner stopped the fight in between rounds? I don’t see what made them stop it, but Eddie said something and his corner immediately waived their arms. His left eye is swollen – maybe he can’t see?
Final result: Mike Perry defeats Eddie Alvarez, TKO (corner stoppage)
Christine Ferea vs. Bec Rawlings for BKFC Flyweight title
Round 1: Rawlings in black and white, Ferea in black and gold. Ferea pawing with her jab to open up. They clinch, get broken up. Nice jab by Ferea. Rawlings eats another jab, evades the overhand. Rawlings with a flurry as she catches Ferea coming forward.
10-9 Ferea
Round 2: Rawlings fucks under a punch, but Ferea times her coming back up with a right. They get into tight quarters and both start throwing in rapid succession. Both women land clean repeatedly. Ferea backing Rawlings up, eats a jab as she walks forward. Ferea gets Rawlings to the ropes and lands a 3-piece. Rawlings looked like she thought the ref was going to break up the brief clinch, but that didn’t come and she ate those shots. Rawlings flurries back to get Ferea to back off. She’s bleeding now.
10-9 Ferea
Round 3: Rights lands by both women. Ferea working her jab as Rawlings seems content to fight off the back foot. Rawlings with a right to the gut. Another one. Both get in lefts. Now Ferea looks like she’s got a cut over the eye, too. Oh, very nice right by Ferea in the waning seconds. Rawlings ate that clean.
10-9 Ferea
Round 4: Solid right counter by Rawlings. Ferea with a couple jabs and there’s a right hand follow-up. 1-2 by Rawlings and that 2 was good. Another repeat combo. Ferea enters with a 2-3 and both land. They flurry inside and it looks like Ferea get a couple in. Rawlings with a right.
10-9 Rawlings
Round 5: Rawlings with a right, evades a combo by Ferea and lands a left. Ferea now with a counter right and follows up with another right. Ferea’s power is showing here as each time she lands a couple of punches, Rawlings gets moved back a couple steps. Ferea doubles up on the right, but neither were super clean. Rawlings with a couple rights. Ferea with a shovel hook, Rawlings with an overhand. The clapper sounds and they start pouring it on each other. Close round here.
10-9 Ferea
Final result: Christine Ferea defeats Bec Rawlings, unanimous decision
Kai Stewart vs. Howard Davis for BKFC Featherweight title
Round 1: Stewart in black and gold, Davis in white. Stewart on the front foot, Davis looking to counter. Davis managing to sidestep and land a counter. Stewart gets inside and lands a right. Stewart ducks down and lands a low blow, ref pauses the action. Davis with a right on a Stewart entry. Stewart flurries in a clinch.
10-9 Davis
Round 2: 1-2 by Davis as the bell sounds, but both miss. Stewart going into a clinch and looking like a Tasmanian devil when he does so. He lands a bunch of shots as Davis looks to either clinch or tie up. Stewart with a right hand on the entry.
10-9 Stewart
Round 3: Stewart continues his whirling dervish pace as he collapses the pocket and throws punches in bunches both on the entry and at all points thereafter. Davis with a right. Both men land rights. They flurry on the inside and Davis looks like he finally got the better of an exchange there, landing a left and right hook.
10-9 Stewart
Round 4: Stewart blitzes forward and lands a left. Both men miss uppercuts. Stewart is getting on the ref’s nerve as he’s still punching after the ref says stop. He does it again and gets a “hard warning”. Something landed clean by Stewart as they restart as Davis’ nose is bleeding. They exchange as the clapper sounds, and both men land clean. Nice right by Davis at the end.
10-9 Stewart
Round 5: Stewart feints, and lands a lunging left. Stewart gets in some shots each time he lunges in, finally eats some return fire by Davis. Stewart lands a right, gets into a phone booth and blasts to the body. They’re slowing down a bit from the manic earlier pace. Left-right swing by Stewart.
10-9 Stewart
Final result: Kai Stewart defeats Howard Davis, unanimous decision
Arnold Adams vs. Mick Terrill for BKFC Heavyweight title
Round 1: Terrill in white, Adams in red. Slow start here, as Adams is just ducking down and away from Terrill’s right hand. There’s a right by Adams and a left by Terrill. Adams with a clean jab. Lands another. Terrill gets in a right that hits the back of the neck as Adams ducks down.
10-9 Adams in a very close round
Round 2: Terrill lands a straight left. Might’ve been a power jab. Terrill misses a big swing and he crashes to the canvas somehow… ruled a slip, which makes sense. They get into a clinch and both men shower each other’s ribs with right hands. Terrill cut on his cheek. Right by Terrill and a jab by Adams.
10-9 Terrill
Round 3: Terrill with a counter right that stuns Adams a bit. Adams’ jab has been nice all bout long. Terrill wiping blood from his eye. Terrill wings in a right. Adams is ducking his head way too far down and gets a warning by the ref. Adams has slowed tremendously. The jab is still quick, but his feet are in slow motion. Terrill with a right and Adams grabs on in exhaustion.
10-9 Terrill
Round 4: Big right hand by Terrill as he’s really going after the tired Adams. There’s a short shot and Adams is down. He makes the count, but he looks cooked. They start again and Terrill hits a big right that sends Adams flailing down to the canvas. Dan Miragliotta counts to ten, but he could’ve counted to 30 and Adams wouldn’t have gotten up.
Final result: Mick Terrill defeats Arnold Adams, KO
Jeremy Stephens vs. Jimmie Rivera
Round 1: Rivera in white, Stephens in black. Stephens misses with a jab. Rivera to the body. Again, eats a left hook in response. Rivera in with a left to the jaw and out away from the return fire. Rivera entering to the body repeatedly. Overhand right by Rivera and a left. Fires back with one of his own. Stephens right clips Rivera. More digs to the body by Rivera.
10-9 Rivera
Round 2: Jab by Stephens. Rivera body-head again. Stephens looks unfazed, but he’s been outlanded all fight so far. More good combo body work by the shorter Rivera, who has a small mouse on the left side of his head. Good right by Stephens. Rivera to the head first before going back to the body.
10-9 Rivera in a close round
Round 3: Left by Stephens and a right by Rivera. Big uppercut sends Rivera crashing to the canvas and he has a huge cut now above that left eye. Lefts by both men. Rivera with an aggressive combo. Nice short right by Stephens in the clinch.
10-8 Stephens
Round 4: Man, that cut looks awful. And yea, the doctor stops it. It’s in a bad spot on the outside of the eyebrow of Rivera.
Final result: Jeremy Stephens defeats Jimmy Rivera, TKO
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