Bare knuckle boxing certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Luke Rockhold, a former UFC champion and bare knuckle competitor, labeled it “a dumbass sport” that is all about who\u2019s “willing to lose their face first for f—— nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jaron Ennis, the WBA and WBO 154-pound champion, is another top fighter who won’t ever entertain the idea of ungloved boxing.<\/p>\n
“I can’t even describe it. It’s crazy. This is something that I would never do,” Ennis said on the night Trout got knocked out. “This is dangerous. I don’t know. This might be worse than boxing, so I don’t know. I can’t really say, but I wouldn’t do this. I will tell you this now.”<\/p>\n
Foster said just because people don’t like bare knuckle, it doesn’t mean that it should be dismissed or, worse, discontinued.<\/p>\n
“The public and market will decide whether they want to watch it or not,” Foster said. “It wasn’t too long ago when mixed martial arts was treated just like bare knuckle, was banned from everywhere and didn\u2019t have regulation and was pushed underground and taken off pay per view, and look where it is now.”<\/p>\n
Promoters who are running the three most significant bare knuckle boxing companies \u2014 David Tetreault (BKB), David Feldman (BKFC) and Umar Kremlev (IBA) \u2014 are bullish on the sport’s potential. And although former UFC star Jorge Masvidal hasn\u2019t competed in bare knuckle, he’s an eager entrant as the proprietor of the upstart, multidisciplinary version billed as Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA.<\/p>\n
“Bare knuckle boxing is in a significant and really high growth cycle right now,” Tetreault told The Ring. “It’s an audience that really absorbs the content. They love the fast pace. They appreciate the way fighters come to fight. There’s no Tom and Jerry-type fights here.”<\/p>\n
BKB has been around since 2015 and is now broadcast on linear television via VICE TV, Bally Sports and Telemundo in the United States as well as social media on TikTok LIVE. In the UK and Ireland, talkSPORT is the home of BKB.<\/p>\n
BKFC, which has held nearly 150 events since launching in 2018, streams its shows internationally on DAZN. Triller acquired a majority interest in BKFC in February 2022.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, BKFC partnered with FOX Nation for a new original documentary competition series billed as “World’s Baddest Man,” which will debut next summer and be hosted by McGregor. Feldman billed the move as a “bold new chapter for combat sports.” Feldman also recently announced that BKFC is headed to Boston and the famed Fenway Park for its next show August 29.<\/p>\n
The IBA has also emerged as a global player in bare knuckle boxing. After staging five shows in Russia, its sixth event heads to the States. That organization is leaning on combat sports promoter Nelson Lopez and Jon Jones as a figurehead to steer the ship in America.<\/p>\n
“We’re aiming to revive bare knuckle boxing around the world across markets like Russia, France, China, Kazakhstan and more,” Kremlev told The Ring. “Not everyone can become the best pro boxer, but they can become the best bare knuckle boxer. It’s another opportunity and way for fighters to shine. Bare knuckle fighting is the ancestor of boxing. Boxing’s history is based on bare knuckle, and the rules for modern boxing were developed from it.”<\/p>\n
Tetreault said there is room for more than only one organization to have a seat at the bare knuckle table \u2014 just how many remains to be seen. So Tetreault is combining his experience as a top executive at Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions as well as Triller, iHeart Media, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures, to help spearhead BKB’s continued breakthrough with a signing spree specifically targeting pro boxers and MMA fighters.<\/p>\n
“I can’t treat this like a boxing promoter. I have to treat it as a sports and entertainment team that is watched by millions globally,” Tetreault said. “We really see strength in opening up the sport to boxing fans, who may have grown a little bit tired of 12-round fights where much isn’t happening. I realized that one of the things that was missing in our stable were bona fide former world champions from boxing, so we’re doubling down on that and up-and-coming boxers.”<\/p>\n
BKB is also leaning on Fernando Beltran’s Mexico-based Zanfer Boxing to build a pipeline of Mexican fighters with an eye toward Latin American expansion. BKB’s next voyage in the market takes place September 19 in Tijuana with its champion, Julian Fernandez.<\/p>\n
“We’re going to crawl, walk and run into Mexico and even deeper depending on how we do,” Tetreault said. “There’s a lot of education that goes into sponsors, broadcasters and even regulators, making them aware of the realities and medical situations. There’s not a safety situation, but the optics can be a little bit different.<\/p>\n
“From a business standpoint, there is a massive acceptance into bare knuckle. They’re all coming around, and some are even talking about acquisitions. It’s a huge milestone and a huge deal to be in that position.” <\/p>\n
Whether bare knuckle boxing ultimately cements itself a permanent seat alongside boxing and MMA or remains a polarizing niche spectacle will depend on more than blood-soaked highlights.<\/p>\n
Its future will be shaped by ongoing regulation, medical research, potential for even more commercial growth, and its ability to develop stars whose appeal resonates beyond the spectacle of violence.<\/p>\n
What can no longer be disputed, however, is its growing influence. As promotions fight for market share, distribution deals expand, and more established fighters cross over, bare knuckle boxing is no longer asking for acceptance.<\/p>\n
It is forcing the combat sports world to confront an uncomfortable question: Is this the future of fighting or simply its most unforgiving evolution?<\/p>\n
Manouk Akopyan is The Ring\u2019s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bare knuckle boxing certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Luke Rockhold, a former UFC champion and bare knuckle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[90965,64,63,802,232239,1920,58030,85,2974],"class_list":["post-804155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-object-object","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-articles","tag-boxing-news","tag-featured-article","tag-sports","tag-the-ring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}