The first belt on the line is Luis “Baboon” Palomino’s (3-0, 3 KOs) Featherweight World Championship. Palomino is well known in South Florida for his MMA career including an epic battle with Justin Gaethje. Palomino faces England’s Tyler “El Tornado” Goodjohn. Baboon controlled the action for most of the fight and opened a cut on his opponent’s face in the second round. Baboon scored at will in the third round, connecting with power jabs and straight rights. In the fourth round, Baboon danced and continued to score, splitting Tyler’s guard over and over again. In the last round, Baboon added a vicious uppercut to his repertoire and landed it several times en route to a unanimous decision victory to retain his title.
The BKFC Middleweight World Championship between Thiago Alves (1-0) and Uly Diaz began with immediate aggression from both fighters and both men were bloodied in the first round. Monster dropped Pitbull in the second round, who then recovered and finished the round with some good shots of his own. Pitbull dropped Uly early in the third round and continued the punishment throughout, landing hard combinations and a good case could have been made to stop the fight. The ref decided to let the action continue until the end of the round, but the ringside doctor decided he’d seen enough.
Crowd favorite Hector Lombard (2-0) and Joe “Diesel” Riggs (3-0) took to the ring next. As expected, the first round began with thunder that soon subsided as the two men tried to establish a rhythm. Lombard was the aggressor in rounds two and three and landed several hard, looping hooks and some good straight lefts. Riggs returned fire in round four but was dropped by a left hand. Riggs then complained of an eye poke, but the replay showed a legal punch. After some discussion, it was ruled a TKO and Hector Lombard became the new BKFC World Cruiserweight Champion.In the main event for the BKFC Heavyweight World Championship, Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran (4-1-1, 2 KOs) took on Sam “Hillbilly Hammer” Shewmaker (4-1-1, 2 KOs). Shewmaker began the round with a few haymakers, and Beltran’s face was bloodied. Shewmaker continued to press the action in round two. Beltran came back in round three with some good body shots and an overhand right, and was more active in the fourth round as well. Round five saw Beltran continuing to control the action but both men were fatigued. This was a close fight that ended at 2:13 am. The unanimous decision went to Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran, the Undisputed BKFC World Heavyweight Champion.
When we last saw Francisco RIcchi (2-0), he sustained a brutal injury following a punch to the throat and was placed in a medically-induced coma. He is returning to fight Brian Maxwell (0-3-0). Ricchi knocked down Maxwell in the opening seconds of round one, pursued some more, and ended the round with a short right hand and another knockdown. The action continued in round two with RIcchi dominating and knocking down Maxwell again with only 34 seconds left in the round, heralding the end of the fight and another TKO for Ricchi.
Next up are two southpaw heavyweights Steve Herelius (debut) vs. Juan Torres (1-1). Both men were having trouble figuring out a successful plan of attack and spent much of the first two rounds in a clinch. Round three saw more action with both fighters connecting with significant blows at the beginning before showing signs of tiring. Rounds four and five continued as usual, with Herelius earning a split decision victory at the end.
Two evenly matched fighters took to the squared circle next. Bruce Lutchmedia (1-0) and Eddie Hoch (1-0)
Although a lackluster performance from both fighters, Hoch was slightly more dominant en route to an unanimous decision. Lutchmedial showed a spark from time to time, but it wasn’t consistent nor did it appear often enough throughout the 5 round bout to earn him more than a round or two.
Jarod “Kid Gatti” Grant remains undefeated after a TKO stoppage at 35 seconds of round four over Travis Thompson. This was Jarod’s biggest test to date in his bare knuckle career and he did what no one thought he could do, stop Travis Thompson.
The fireworks started with Jake “Brutal” Bostwick and Julian “Let Me Bang” Lane. Lane knocked down Bostwick once in the first round, then again in the second. Bostwick recovered to finish the second round. Lane lost a little steam in the third round. Bostwick, bloody but unbeaten, was spurred on by his fans chanting, and finished the fight strong. The judges scored the bout 50-44, 50-43, 48-45, for the winner by unanimous decision, Julian Lane.
Next up, former UFC competitor Pearl Gonzalez made her BKFC debut against Charisa Sigala (0-1). With Amanda Serrano in her corner, Gonzalez pressed the action throughout the fight and won an unanimous decision of 50-45, 50-45, 50-45. After the bout, Gonzalez credited “moving to Brooklyn with Team Serrano” as a game-changer in her career.
In the opening bout, Miami’s Eduardo Concepcion cracked fellow debutant Gabe Brown with a left hand then dropped him with a quick right. The ref immediately called the fight off at just five seconds of the first round, earning Concepcion the second fastest KO in BKFC history.
The second matchup featured Yosdenis Cedeno, a familiar face in the South Florida MMA scene, making his BKFC debut against another MMA veteran, Alan Arzeno, who is 1-0 with the BKFC organization. Round one was a feeling out exercise with neither side landing any significant blows. Round two saw a little more action with Cedeno landing two good shots and pressing the action. Rounds three and four continued with little damage done. There was a ten second blast at the end of round five with both fighters swinging for the fences. In the end, Yosdenis Cedeno won a split decision with two judges scoring the bout 49-46 in his favor, and the third scoring 49-46 for Arzeno.
Next up were welterweights Paul Teague (0-1) and Joshua “Famez” Alvarez, making his bare knuckle debut, with what may be the third fastest knockout in BKFC history at 17 seconds of the first round. From the opening bell, Famez, representing South Florida’s fastest growing MMA gym, the Goat Shed, dominated and connected several times before the final, swift straight right. The fourth bout featured Montaser Aboughaly, making his debut and fellow newcomer Luke Parsons. Aboughaly quickly knocked Parsons down twice before the ref stopped the fight at 34 seconds of the first round with a third knockdown.
