It was a big night for several former UFC Fighters at bareknuckle promotion BKFC 18, with multiple titles on the line in the main card.
Joey Beltran claimed the second successful defense of his heavyweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Sam Shewmaker, keeping the pressure on his opponent throughout before revealing post-fight that he’d had a battle with Covid-19 just three weeks earlier.
The biggest talking points of the night came during the co-main event as Hector Lombard emerged with a controversial fourth round TKO stoppage against Joe Riggs to become the cruiserweight champion.
Lombard had got the better of the early action, but then in the fourth round Riggs hurt him with a big left hand. A firefight ensued and as Lombard unleashed a flurry of punches he grabbed Riggs shorts, and as the ref tried to stop that he connected with a left hand that sent Riggs to the mat.
Unfortunately the blow injured Riggs eye and he couldn’t continue, and after some confusion as to whether it was an eyepoke and whether Lombard would be penalized for grabbing Rigg shorts, he was instead handed the victory via TKO.
If that wasn’t controversial enough, prior to his post-fight interview, Lombard was approached by another BKFC fighter Lorenzo Hunt, who was looking to call him out, but ‘Lightning’ didn’t take kindly to that intrusion and promptly blasted him with a two-punch combo, before Riggs stepped in to drag him away!
Earlier in the night, Thiago Alves became BKFC’s middleweight champion in a bloody battle with Uly Diaz that saw him suffer a cut above his eyebrow and a knockdown, only to turn up the heat in the third round, flooring Diaz with a right hand.
Diaz got back up, but was clearly still rocked and Alves continued to land big shots, putting him down again twice more. The crimson soaked Diaz made it to the end of the round, but wilted on the stool and the fight was waved off, handing Alves the TKO stoppage win.
BKFC lightweight champion Luis Palomino also picked up a clean sweep on the scorecards against Tyler Goodjohn, while former UFC fighter Pearl Gonzalez had a successful debut with a convincing decision win against Charisa Sigala.
Check out all the BKFC 18 results below.
Main Card
Joey Beltran def. Sam Shewmaker via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47)
Hector Lombard def. Joe Riggs via TKO (doctor stoppage) – Round 4, 1:07
Thiago Alves def. Ulysses Diaz via TKO (doctor stoppage) – Round 3, 5:00
Luis Palomino def. Tyler Goodjohn via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
Pearl Gonzalez def. Charisa Sigala via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
Julian Lane def. Jake Bostwick via unanimous decision (50-44, 50-43, 48-45)
Jarod Grant def. Travis Thompson via TKO (doctor stoppage) – Round 4, 0:35
Eddie Hoch def. Bruce Lutchmedial via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)
Steve Herelius def. Juan Torres via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 49-46)
Francisco Ricchi def. Brian Maxwell via TKO – Round 2, 1:25
PRELIMINARY CARD (FITE TV, YOUTUBE)
Montaser Aboughaly def. Luke Parson via knockout – Round 1, 0:34
Famez def. Paul Teague via knockout – Round 1, 0:17
Yosdenis Cedeno def. Alan Arzeno via split decision (49-46, 46-49, 49-46)
Eduardo Conception def. Gabriel Brown via knockout – Round 1, 0:05
LIST
