Knockouts Galore at the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 8 in Tampa

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship once again made Tampa and the Florida Fairgrounds it’s home on Saturday night. Two big named ex UFC fighters headlined the 9 fight main BKFC PPV card with Antonio “Big Foot” Silva taking on Gabriel Gonzaga. 

Both fighters have a combined 61 fights in the MMA and have never fought each other before. The Co-Headline main event included Bare Knuckle veterans Julian Lane vs. Jim Alers.

In the early fights,
Gustavo Trujillo defeated Robert Morrow via KO in round one at 0:35
Jared Warren defeated Brian Maxwell via KO in round one at 1:59
Zach Juusola defeated Fred Pierce via KO in round two at 0:33.

The first pay-per-view bout of the night showcased Florida’s Dave Mundell facing Ronnie Forney of Iowa. Mundell scored two knockdowns off Forney, the second did the most damage which resulted in the fight being stopped in the second round with just under two left in the round.

Joey Angelo faced Walber Barros in a five-round slug fest that went the distance with Angelo securing the split-decision victory taking two out of the three rounds with scores of 48-47 & 49-46 for Angelo, 48-47 for Barros.

The much hyped woman’s fight between Delandy Owen v Sheena Starr got off to a fast start with multiple combinations thrown by both woman but Starr seemed to get a bit gassed rather quickly.  Owen was sharp early and often and once Starr (who wore a Mike Vick is a Bitch t-shirt) got stunned, Owen hit her with non-stop shots which dropped Starr to the canvas for the last time in the second round. Starr looked completely dejected as she sat on the canvas after the loss and will have to reevaluate her fighting pace going forward.

Next up was Hunt vs. Pena

Blood was struck early in the fight between Lorenzo Hunt and Reggie Pena as Hunt clipped Pena above the right eye and a cut was opened within the first minute and it played a huge role in the rest of the fight. Hunt dominated early but the fight shifted late in the second round as Pena applied the pressure on Hunt. Hunt continued to slow down as Pena walked him down but Hunt crushed Pena with a body shot right before the bell sounded.

Unfortunately for Pena, the fight was stopped for medical reasons as the sub-dermal hematoma above Pena’s eye was too big and there wouldn’t be a “Cut Me Mick” moment for him and Hunt’s hand was raised in victory in the middle of the ring

Another couple MMA fighters made appearances that sounded like they were cutting a promotional spot for an upcoming fight as Fabricio Werdum and Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva pumped up Bare Knuckle Boxing.  I’m predicting both will be fighting on soon to be released future cards.  

A physical mismatch was up next in Tampa as Rick Caruso took on Abdiel Vazquez, with Caruso being an aggressive counter striker who initially reminded me of Nate Diaz. Caruso also had an 8 inch height difference over Abdiel Vazquez from Spring Hill.

Looks can be deceiving as Vazquez connected with a 1 second knockdown just as the match started and dominated the first round. Vazquez then took a few good shots from Caruso but landed five straight with various power levels to put Caruso down a second time. Caruso got up and went back to his corner when the bell rang at the end of the second.

It was déjà vu for Caruso at the beginning of the third as Vazquez clocked Caruso two seconds into the round and when the ref asked Caruso if he wanted to continued, Caruso replied with a stern and shaken “No.” The result showed once again that having the physical attributes over your opponent doesn’t always equate to a victory in the art of combat sports.

Clinch fighting was in store for the thousands in attendance as Dat Nguyen v Travis “The Animal” Thompson fought by clutching each other’s arms and striking the open sides of their bodies, which is legal in Bare Knuckle Boxing. The first round was an epic battle as both fighters shined in the art of dirty boxing.  They exchanged shots to the body throughout the first round which was even until late as Dat Nguyen caught Thompson with a big uppercut that stunned Thompson.

Thompson recovered on the stool between rounds and the fight opened up in the second with both fighters throwing haymakers and connecting with Nguyen doing most of the damage. Nguyen continued to connect on Thompson in the third but Thompson pressed on and showed a ton of heart heading into the fourth round. 

Nguyen and Thompson taunted each other during the fourth round with Nguyen continuing to connect on Thompson. It was more of the same for Thomson’s face and body in the fifth round as Nguyen continued to slip and move and land punches at will. It was the easiest decision for the judges up to the point in the night’s card as Bare Knuckle Boxing has a new title contender in Dat Nguyen.

The co main event then kicked off with Julian Lane from Las Vegas taking on Jim “The Bareknuckle Beast” Alers from Fort Lauderdale.

Both fighters jumped out to big starts in the first round and exchanged shots and the round looked fairly even. Lane got caught early in the second round by a huge uppercut from Alers and recovered but Lane kept the pressure on and the ref stopped the fight after Lane ate a couple more shots from Alers. Alers upped his record to 3-0 with 3 stoppages in Bare Knuckle.

The finale for the evening between the aforementioned giants in MMA history in Antonio “Big Foot” Silva took on Gabriel Gonzaga. Silva came to the ring with a 2 inch height advantage and towing an extra 24 pounds into the squared circle. Silva was cautious while trying to land a big right with Gonzaga using his speed to land some jabs. The first round was tough to score but Gonzaga gets the 10-9 advantage due to his workload.

Gonzaga figured out that he could dominate the fight with his speed and he did just that in the second round as he landed a quick one-two with the second punch hitting Silva on the side of the chin which brought the big man down for the first time. After the referee allowed Silva to continue, Gonzaga brought an onslaught of punches from all angles and landed some wide strikes and monster uppercuts to once again drop Silva for the last time.

Gonzaga has a future in this sport due to his strength, speed and experience and look for him to take a shot at the title probably at BKFC 10.

Once again the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship in Tampa was a big success. Quality matchups with familiar names and faces and it seems the best is yet to come as other MMA fighters are coming in to test their standup skills and their chins. The future seems bright for this organization.

Upcoming for Bare Knuckle Boxing is the highly anticipated rematch between Champion Artem Lobov vs. Jason Knight happening on Nov 16^th in Mississippi. For more information on upcoming events

https://www.bareknuckle.tv/events