One of the biggest nights in the short history of the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) takes place this weekend — and according to the fight league’s president, there is a lot more to come down the line.
The Conor McGregor part-owned organisation makes its Spanish debut from a bullfighting arena in Marbella, Spain on Saturday, October 12 with a fight card topped by three world title fights — and also includes the bare-knuckle debut of one of our staff members here at The Mac Life, Oscar Willis.
The headline fight will see Franco Tenaglia and Tony Soto battle for the BKFC lightweight title as two undefeated bare-knuckle stars throw down for gold, while former world boxing champion champion Austin Trout — who holds a win over Miguel Cotto and went the distance with Canelo Alvarez — defends his welterweight title against the always dangerous Rico Franco.
The BKFC middleweight title will also be on the line on Saturday night as the hard-hitting champion David Mundell defends his crown against the British-based Danny Christie.
And ahead of BKFC’s Spanish debut, the promotion’s founder and president David Feldman says that the company is in a very healthy state ahead of the next phase of its growth.
“The UFC sells tickets. The big, big boxing matches, they sell tickets. The smaller ones, the mid-ones don’t. The mid-MMA companies, they’re not selling tickets. Obviously the smaller [promotions[ are, they’re selling 1,000 tickets. Not really selling,” Feldman told MMA Fighting.
“It’s actually my pitch to investors,” he added. “I go ‘listen, we’re actually one of the only promotions in the world that sells tickets.’
“We just sold 5,400 tickets this past weekend. We’re projected to sell 6,700 tickets in Spain and then Denver, we’ll probably do 4,000 tickets there and then we’re doing Poland in December, Montana, All these shows coming up, they should really be a minimum of 4,000 tickets sold. Actually sold and that’s a big deal right now in combat sports because they’re not all sold. A lot of them are papered up.”
Earlier this year, Feldman reached an agreement with Conor McGregor to become part-owner of the organisation in a move that was heralded as moving BKFC to the next level of its expansion — and while there is still work to be done, Feldman is confident that BKFC has gained a sturdy foothold in the combat sports landscape.
“We thought we were out of business 10 different times and we just found a way to make it happen and make it work,” he noted.. “I don’t see any end in sight. I think we got a really great shot right now of knocking on the number one’s door.”
Also, and as noted above, The Mac Life’s Oscar Willis will make his BKFC debut on the card when he fights fellow combat sports media member Ben ‘The Bane’ Davis.
