“BKFC goes Wide Open Throttle at OCC Roadhouse!!!”

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship

12APR2024

OCC Roadhouse- Clearwater, FL

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship returned to the Orange County Choppers Roadhouse in Clearwater, FL on April 12^th. Previously visiting the Roadhouse and neighboring Bert’s Barracuda Harley Davidson for weigh-ins and press conferences, this was their first fight night there, and it didn’t disappoint.

With people watching the BKFC Prospects battle it out in small gloves as they filtered in, there was something to see at every corner of the event.

Opening the night was Quentin Gaskins taking on Zach Pannell. Making his debut, Gaskins weighed his shots carefully against the 1-0 Pannell. While the duo swapped shots for most of the round, towards the end each of them came to life.

With Gaskins keeping Pannell pressed against the ropes for most of the last minute, he put a wear on that man. Going to their corners, the ringside doc didn’t even give Pannell a chance to start a second round and called the fight.   Winner: Gaskins TKO (Doc Stoppage)end of the 1^st Round

Following up such a hard-hitting fight isn’t easy, and Angel Hernandez’s fight against Rayne Wells got the message. Instead of drawing out the contest for any length of time, Hernandez launched Wells damn near out of the ring in eight seconds.

This was fast enough for third-fastest KO in BKFC history. Laying on the canvas under the ropes, Wells looked far worse for the wear and simply stayed on his back for nearly five minutes before leaving the ring. Winner: Hernandez by TKO in 0:08 of the 1^st Round

Leonel Carerra and Mike Heckert prepared to toe the line third. With the first two fights finishing so fast that people were still waiting for their beer order before the opening bell, this needed to be a barn burner, and did they deliver. Both started out with incredibly tight defensive fighting.

Great head movement from Carerra kept Heckert throwing great feints, and each struck in a flurry when opportunity arose. By the end of the round each of them had been busted open pretty well with Heckert’s left eye visibly swelling.

Opening the second round, both fighters came out a bit more reserved. Instead of looking to make their own holes, they were instead looking to cover their own. Looking a bit more precise with their strikes, they were putting significantly more on them. Heckert especially was loading up his shots, with Carerra instead choosing to be more pinpoint with his strikes and to keep pinning the damaged eye.

This made it swell worse, and left Heckert going to the corner with his eye essentially swollen shut. Looked at by the ringside doc, and the fight was ruled over. Winner: Carerra by TKO (Doc Stoppage)at the end of the2^ndRound

Shifting gears to the women’s division, Jessica Borga welcomed Katharina Lehner to BKFC. A welcome that came with both ladies looking to destroy the other.

Trading absolute bombs in there, with no “fight like a girl” about it. This was a straight-out war, and the “Black Widow” had everything going and the “German Gypsy” only answering with a devastatingly split forehead.

Knocked to the canvas in just 41 seconds, Lehner couldn’t rise again after Borga simply bodied her to the roar of the crowd. Winner: Borga by KO at 0:41 of the 1^st Round 

Jay Jackson and Idrees Wasi promised to be a barnburner from the weigh ins. Jackson forced the action from the beginning and kept Wasi consistently against the ropes.

While good head movement and staying away from the looping left helped Wasi significantly, Jackson’s level of attack was more than significant. As the bell ended the round, the two exchanged bits of respect for the opening round.

Getting out of their corners, both fighters were coated in sweat and water. Both keeping a perfect rhythm in their fight, they found themselves getting close and in the clinch as Wasi looked to keep away from the sweeping fists of Jackson. Utilizing his reach to keep Wasi from coming in, Jackson gave himself the space to time Wasi’s movements, and to cut down the effectiveness of his head movement.

Going into the third round, Wasi looked incredibly winded. While Jackson certainly was breathing hard himself, it was nothing in comparison. As Wasi moved around the ring, he tried keeping the fight close, and looked to pin Jackson to the ropes. Bleeding pretty solidly by now, Jackson set his sights on the forehead of his opponent, and subsequently split it open like a ripe melon.

Leaking like an indie wrestler, Jackson worked the cut continuously when shots opened up, but Wasi kept leaning on him. Taking this in stride, the very experienced Jackson just worked his way around and started pounding the body to bring the forehead back out and open to be worked.

Exchanging pleasantries again at the end of the round, it was as if Wasi knew it was all but over. Despite the best efforts of his cutman, the doctor stopped this before round four could begin. Winner: Jackson by TKO (Doc Stoppage)at the end of the 3rd Round 

Abdiel Velazquez was welcomed back by Travis Thompson in fantastic fashion. Taking a few years off following a loss at BKFC 19, Velazquez certainly did some training in his nearly three years of downtime.

Previously having faced off at BKFC 6 in Tampa, this was a great rematch, and a loss that Thompson was looking to avenge. However, Velazquez came out with a vengeance, and had Thompson stumbling almost immediately.

Sensing the blood in the water, Velazquez closed in and dropped him twice within a minute. With Thompson unable to recover, Velazquez took the win in decisive fashion with a KO. Winner: Velazquez by KO at 1:06 in the 1^st Round

Making his return to the squared circle next was the no. 2 contender in the BKFC flyweight Tyler Randall as he took on local JR Ridge. Both seasoned veterans of the sport, their reputations for defensive fighting was on display.

With Randall holding a massive height and reach advantage, Ridge needed to find a way to work his way inside. Not an easy feat in BKFC, but I’ll be damned if he didn’t find some great opportunities. Coming into the ring in some of the leanest shape he’s been in, Ridge was not going down easily.

Round two saw Randall making a strong surge towards Ridge and took to not only cutting the ring in half, but in trying to bully Ridge to moving his way. Thanks to some top-notch footwork, Ridge circumvented that, and instead kept Randall from being able to setup long range or sweeping strikes.

Keeping away from the clinch was a struggle for Ridge, and the height difference made it even harder to prevent taking significant shots while held on the ropes. Still, he made his presence known and mounted some great offense.

Getting off their stools was a bit of a challenge for each fighter, as the exhaustion of fighting in such close quarters was clearly weighing on each of them.

Coming out with a significantly more conservative round, neither one of them seemed to want to make serious strikes, instead they wanted to keep the other at bay. It wasn’t until the waning seconds in the round that both fighters exploded with serious offense.

Opening the fourth round with similar defensive minded fighting, the fans started getting rowdy, and expressing their disappointment.

With many yelling for them to stop dancing and start fighting, they answered the boos with a slew of punches. Both fighters suddenly came to life like the fight was restarted. With the new volume of punches being exchanged, Ridge’s nose started to bleed, and the fans loved seeing the color.

As the only fight to make it to the final round, the fans were really invested in this battle. Ridge’s corner did a great job working on his nose, and had gotten it to slow to a minor trickle at worst, while Randall started showing some significant swelling under his left eye.

This gave Ridge a new target, and he did everything he could to reach out and tough it, but the volume from Randall was simply too much as it had been in other rounds. Keeping the blood flowing on Ridge, Randall was clearly the more aggressive of the two with his reach and height advantage.

Going to the cards, there was little doubt about Randall having the win. While Ridge had done a great job defensively, when the stats posted up on the screen (and on TV) it was clear that he had been out struck in at least 3/5 of the rounds.

Reading off the cards, Randall took it with two judges scoring it 49-46, and 48-47 for him, and Ridge having one judge in his favor 48-47.  Winner: Randall Majority Decision 2-1

Elvin Brito andJa’FarFortt were up next in the co-main event.With Fortt riding a 3 fight unbeaten streak since he came to BKFC, and Brito looking at avenge three straight losses, a lot was on the line for both fighters.

Weigh-ins were tension filled between these two, and while there was no shortage of respect, Fortt looked determined to get the W in front of the home town crowd. 

Each warrior made their way to the ring in short order. While they always have respect for the storied history of the sport, they wanted to get the damn fight going.

From the opening Brito got Fortt against the ropes and kept him there. Shooting shorts to the ribs, Fortt simply could not answer back, forcing the ref to call the fight just 40 seconds into the opening round.Winner: Brito by TKO at 0:40 of the 1st Round

Mike Richman returned from a nine month layoff from fighting to face Erick Lozano, and The Marine was ready to test Lozano from the start. Keeping the pressure on him, Richman showcased that tenacity and didn’t waste but 15-20 seconds to time him before launching an all-out assault. Pushing Lozano toward his limits he tossed him down, with Lozano bouncing back up and surviving the round.

The second round opened up with the Doc taking a look at Lozano’s eye. Given the number of stoppages throughout the night, the crowd automatically began booing this decision. Thankfully the Doc ruled it wasn’t of enough concern and let the fight go on.

Switching to a Mayweather style defense, Lozano spent more of the round running from Richman than facing him, and even connected with a few wild shots, but Richman kept the pressure on full force. At this point it was clear that Richman still has that USMC style cardio, even as a heavyweight.

Somehow getting up to go back out there, Lozano decided cardio just wasn’t going to do it, he was going on all heart, and to a degree so was Richman.

To be fair, heavyweights going this hard in an outdoor venue in the FL humidity is something extraordinary, so it’s to be expected honestly. With Lozano slipping on the sweat, he bounced back up and came back for more. For Richman, this was an opportunity as now a split on Lozano’s nose was now wide open and leaking well.

Entering the fourth round, both fighters were now bloody, bruised, and exhausted. With defense now taking a backseat for looking for an opening to deliver a heater of a shot, they each allowed for more nothing punches to land than they had previously.

This kind of shift was something totally different from the first three rounds, but they capitalized on the change. Each fighter was doing their all to find any opening they thought they could hit, and they fired at will. Not enough to end it, it was now time for the final round.

In the fifth and final round both fighters emerged with a new vigor not previously seen. Their dedication to getting the win was evident, and they would not take a loss for a lack of effort.

Unfortunately for Lozano, Richman quickly got him on the ropes and simply hammered on this man. Rapid firing his lunchbox sized fists, Richman sent Lozano crashing to the canvas in less than a minute, and Lozano stayed down there and couldn’t beat the count. Winner: Richmanat 0:52 of the 5^thRound

Up next is Knucklemania IV at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, CA. Headlining this incredible card is Mike Perry and Thiago Alves. These UFC veterans were previously scheduled to bang it out but never did. Mick Terrill and Lorenzo Hunt will also square off for Terrill’s Heavyweight title. While not a title heavy card, they are packing this Knucklemania with veterans.