Went to the inaugural WBKFF bout here this weekend. If you like bloody fights this is your sport. Doesn’t take much to open a cut above an eye with bare knuckles. At least one fighter broke his hand. Johnny Hendricks got his shit broke by some dude I’ve never heard of. Phil Baroni couldn’t stop going for a double leg takedown. On his, I think, third attempt Chris Leben connected with a hook and sent Baroni to the canvas. It’s going to take a while I think for the MMA fighters to learn to only strike. All in all, pretty entertaining.
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I am not totally against this bare knuckle boxing thing, but so far it just seems like where washed up MMA fighters go to end their career. I haven’t been following too closely, but has there been any former pro boxers entering these events? That seems like a more natural fit.
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It seemed to be made up of former MMA guys and gals. A few claimed in their prefight interviews to have specifically trained with boxers. There were only 2-3 guys who appeared to have legit striking skills. It was apparent most of them had trouble not resorting to jui-jitsu especially Baroni who I can’t remember if he even threw a single punch between trying to double leg takedown Leben repeatedly. It will greatly benefit from the addition of pro boxers.
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Why would any pro boxer ruin their hands for this? Bare knuckle just means no hand protection and more face cuts.
$$$ and audience.
I watched a barenuckle fight out of interest, too gruesome for me but that single round was one round more than I’ve seen of boxing in the past decade.
People do crazy things for money. It was a very bloody spectacle and one dude broke his hand in the 3rd round and fought 2 more and won.
Hendricks lost to Dakota Cochrane, a former Ultimate Fighter contestant who came in as a late replacement in this fight and is best remembered by MMA fans for … well …
One thing I don’t understand is the reference to double leg takedowns. Is this bare knuckle boxing or bare knuckle MMA?
Boxing it seems.
Bring back Vale Tudo!
It’s bare knuckle boxing. But wrestling must be so ingrained in Phil Baroni that instead of throwing punches he kept going for a takedown. I think the infusion of pro or even amateur boxers will make it more entertaining.
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