Bareknuckle promotion BKFC 41 had a big event in Colorado last night and we’ve got all the results for you below.
In the main event of the evening Mike Perry got a big win over former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, who was making his bareknuckle boxing debut.
Despite being the smaller man, in typical fashion Perry was willing to wade headfirst into the danger-zone from the opening bell to land his punches, while Rockhold looked to counter on the outside.
Things really started to heat up late in the first round when Rockhold buckled Perry’s legs with a hard left hand. Perry didn’t go down though and instead not long afterwards he stunned Rockhold with a solid left hand that sent him backpeddling and then threw another flurry of punches, though Rockhold did go on to land a couple of clean left hands before the bell.
Rockhold began bleeding from the nose early in the second round as Perry continued to be the aggressor. Perry then started landing some heavy punches to the body and Rockhold seemed like he was starting to fade, and not long after he took out his mouthpiece and signalled to the ref that he couldn’t continue while pointing to his teeth, leading to the fight being waved off and Perry winning by TKO due to a retirement.
It emerged later that Rockhold had suffered several cracked teeth that had left him unable to continue.
That continues a terrible run of fights for Rockhold at the tail-end of his career that started with two KO losses in a row in the UFC, then a comeback a few years later that saw him quickly gas out in a bizarre fight with Paulo Costa that he’d lose by unanimous decision, and now having his teeth dismantled by Perry in BKFC.
Meanwhile, the co-main event proved to be an instant classic bareknuckle battle between two former UFC stars in Eddie Alvarez and Chad Mendes.
This was a competitive back-and-forth fight right from the start and in the second round Mendes was able to drop Alvarez with a left hand, while early in the third Alvarez put him down momentarily with a left hook.
Both men were wearing significant damage by this stage, but neither let that affect them as they continued to trade blows in the rounds that followed, leading to a thrilling conclusion late in the fifth round as Alvarez turned up the heat with a barrage of blows that sunk Mendes to his knees. Mendes rose with blood pouring from his swollen right eye and just 10 seconds left in the fight, only to then stagger Alvarez backwards to the mat for a split-second with a left hook.
Alvarez was ok though and so the fight headed to the scorecards, where he’d narrowly win by split decision (47-46 x2, 46-47).
Earlier Christine Ferea defended her flyweight title with a doctor’s stoppage TKO win over Bec Rawlings, who was left unable to continue due to a nasty cut above her eye, while Ben Rothwell had a hard-hitting fight with Josh Copeland that he won by TKO after his opponent’s corner threw in the towel at the end of the third round.
Check out all the BKFC 41 results below.
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Main Card
Mike Perry def. Luke Rockhold via TKO (retirement) – R2, 1:15
Eddie Alvarez def. Chad Mendes via SD (47-46, 46-47, 47-46)
Christine Ferea def. Bec Rawlings via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) – Round 2, 2:00
Ben Rothwell def. Josh Copeland via TKO – Round 3, 2:00
Chris Camozzi def. Daniel Spohn via KO – Round 1, 2:00
Brandon Girtz def. Christian Torres via KO – Round 1, 1:10
James Brown def. Mike Alvarado by TKO – Round 2, 2:00
Khortni Kamyron vs. Gabrielle Roman is declared a majority draw (48-46, 47-47, 47-47)
Prelims
Marcus Edwards def. Jay Jackson via KO – Round 1, 2:00
Dillon Winemiller def. Matthew Maestas via KO – Round 1, 0:07
Mitch Seybold def. Jack Willoughby via TKO – Round 1, 1:23
