FanSided MMA has reported that Wanderlei Silva (35-14-1) has signed to fight with Bare-Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC). The Body Lock has confirmed the news which is expected to be officially announced at BKFC 8 on October 19.

For the 43-year old Brazilian icon, his last fight came in September 2018 in a trilogy bout with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at Bellator 206. Unfortunately for Silva, he would suffer defeat via second round knock out. Therefore making Silva 2-1 in their rivalry.

“The Axe-Murderer” most recently enjoyed a two-fight stint with Bellator that saw him go 0-2. This came four years after his last bout in the UFC against Brian Stann. This also happened to be Silva’s last win. A lifetime ban from the Nevada State Atheltic Commission would put him out of action until 2015 when it was overturned. Silva would be released in 2016 after accusing the UFC of fixing fights.

The former PRIDE FC middleweight king has sustained a total of seven losses by knockout in his illustrious career. Wanderlei Silva recently shared that he’s starting to notice CTE-like symptoms in his day to day life.

His opponent has yet to be determined for his BKFC debut. But it wouldn’t be surprising to see it end up being another notable MMA figure.

The list of names that have recently competed in BKFC include the likes of Chris Leben, Artem Lobov, Jason Knight, Jim Alers, Johnny Bedford, Estevan Payan, Bec Rawlings, and former UFC heavyweight champion, Ricco Rodriguez. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Gabriel Gonzaga are set to headline the next event.

The post Wanderlei Silva signs with Bare-Knuckle Fighting Championship appeared first on The Body Lock.

However, a sporting aspect to it has been developed over the years. And in the modern-day, a lot more is going in than purely just blood and bone.

When it comes to America, the sport of BKB is still very new as the legalization of the gloveless combat was made official in March of last year. That being only for the state of Wyoming. Shortly after, Mississippi and New Hamshire would join in on the ever-unique festivities. Florida and North Dakota have also since made it legal and more are expected to do the same as time goes on.

As mentioned, bare-knuckle boxing is something that has been taking place around the world in some form or another for decades now. It just wasn’t until the start of 2017 that the place which made it famous, the United Kingdom, would be the first to get a proper organization going.

And what’s a more fitting name than just calling it what it is?

In the still very young history of modernized bare-knuckle boxing, the UK’s BKB promotion – known as BKB – has so far been the one with the least amount of controversy surrounding it when compared to its emerging American counterparts.

To get some proper insight on what makes things so different between seas, The Body Lock reached out to BKB staff writer and former World Bare-Knuckle Fighting Federation (WBKFF) employee, Adam LeBarr.

“I’ve now worked for the biggest bare-knuckle boxing promotions around, and from my experience, yes, there is a difference,” LeBarr shared. “The major thing I noticed was the communication, which is everything when you’re working with a promotion, trying to paint a picture and tell a story.

“I don’t want to talk poorly about anyone, because everything I’ve done has been a learning experience, and I can’t thank everyone I’ve been involved with enough for providing that to me. All I ever hope for, especially from the sport of BKB, is that everyone gets what they’re owed for fighting, everyone remains in good health following their fight, and the fights are good. There will always be a difference from promotion to promotion, and hopefully, those are all positives moving forward.”

With the history of the sport being so ingrained in a place like the UK, one could assume it comes down to integrity vs capitalization. Sometimes you have to strike while the iron is hot, and that’s exactly what American promoters have started to do.

The first and most notable of the small sample size is David Feldman who currently runs the Bare-Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC).

Feldman, a man with a boxing background, discovered his passion for the bare-knuckle variant of the sport when first working alongside Bobby Gunn as he told Forbes in April.

June 2, 2018, would mark the BKFC’s inaugural event.

BKFC 1 featured many notable names from the MMA world such as Tony Lopez, former Bellator veteran, Eric Prindle, former Bellator and UFC veterans, Johnny Bedford, and Joey Beltran, former UFC veterans, Bec Rawlings, Estevan Payan, and even former UFC heavyweight champion, Ricco Rodriguez. And those wouldn’t be the last for BKFC… as well as others.

The dark side

In the latter half of 2018, another American BKB promotion would come along known as the previously mentioned WBKFF.

As interested in gathering up MMA fighters to compete for them as these promotions were, the fighters had the interest in reciprocating. Unfortunately for those goaded into competing under the WBKFF banner, things didn’t pan out as well as they should have.

WBKFF would go one and done with their events as once things were all wrapped up following the first show, none of the fighters would end up receiving their compensation and still haven’t.

In result, WBKFF Founder, Tomasz Stankiewicz, was charged with five felonies by Natrona County prosecutors. Last year he pleaded guilty in a separate case to wire fraud where he was “responsible for financial institutions losing an estimated $1.98 million” per the plea agreement. He was sentenced to a year in prison which was to begin on April 22.

On top of the reported $60,000 payouts that he was offering according to multiple fighters, Stankiewicz just didn’t end up paying anyone surrounding the situation what so ever – including the hotels he booked $3,700 worth of for the event.

What could have possibly been WBKFF’s big plan all along?

“Tough question,” LeBarr started. “I mean, I’d like to think intentions were good with the promotion, but with what happened, you just never know.

“For months I was e-mailing the owner’s wife asking about pay for the fighters and myself and there just wasn’t ever a clear answer. It even got to the point I’d be informed my pay was sent out, weeks would pass, and then after I questioned it, a new story was made about why the pay wasn’t actually sent. This was the case for me, the fighters, and everyone behind the scenes who worked for the promotion. This was my first real gig as a sports writer, so I wasn’t sure if some of these problems were normal, or this was actually just a giant shit show and I was blind to it.

“I’ve spoken with [WBKFF President] Bas [Rutten], many times actually, and I’ve been made aware of conversations he has had with Tom, the owner, and he always makes it sound like there’s good intention and everything to square up is a work in progress,” he continued. “I became very close with a lot of the fighters from that show, and it hurt to see the struggle they went through following them not being paid for all their dedication and not to mention putting their health on the line. I don’t know what happens from here, but I hope if there’s ever any news about the WBKFF again, it’s somehow positive and the fighters get what they deserve.”

The secret

Obviously, there is an enticement and allure to the spectacle of bare-knuckle boxing. Whether it be to the fighters or promoters running the shows. It’s something new, challenging, violent, and just different. It sounds a bit similar to how MMA began, huh?

For MMA fighters that have always just looked to throw down and go to war on the feet, it’s practically perfect. In the minds of the ones that didn’t always like the sound of that, it presents a phenomenal task to overcome. Accompanying that desire to put fists in faces without padding, for whatever reason, the pay appears to be quite good… when the promises are kept.

To look at BKFC’s fifth event as a good example, former UFC featherweights Artem Lobov and Jason Knight fought in the evening’s main event. To put it bluntly, they beat the absolute hell out of each other to a face morphing degree. The punishment sustained was unlike anything ever seen in the UFC Octagon. Yet this was between two fighters that never truly even sniffed the top of their division on MMA’s ultimate stage.

For Mississippi’s Knight, his last UFC contest came at UFC 230 where he received a reported payout of $36,000. Ahead of his bout with Lobov, without mentioning a specific number, Knight said that he would be making more than his last UFC fight… “if everything goes the way it should.” He also claimed that Lobov was supposedly making $50,000 for their fight which was more than his last UFC purse of $22,000 as well.

Fast forward to BKFC 6 and the biggest fight in the short history of the promotion would take place between Lobov and former boxing world champion, Paulie Malignaggi. So with the rough idea of how much money is being handed out, it’s enough to attract names like Malignaggi.

Interestingly enough, the payouts for that event would not and have not been revealed.

Just FYI — the Florida Commission will not be releasing salaries for BKFC 6 this past weekend. I asked but they informed me that BKFC requested the salaries not be released so that's that.

— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) June 24, 2019

As the shows are pay-per-views, it could be safe to assume that the extra incentive could be there in the form of pay-per-view points. Which was potentially hinted at by Knight.

Unfortunately for Feldman, his ambitious prediction of 200,000 buys for BKFC 6’s price of $29.99 would not be met. 200,000 buys are more than three events that the UFC held last year. An admitted low for UFC pay-per-views, however, BKFC 6 only wound up doing 18,000 buys which are still significantly less than Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell’s trilogy bout that did 40,000.

While no stable numbers are floating around out there, all visible evidence leads to bare-knuckle boxing being a more beneficial sport for a name fighter’s wallet. Just how much do they have to offer though? In regards to the BKFC, The Body Lock has confirmed with sources that last year a very notable legend of the sport was offered a one-fight contract for $500,000.

If it makes you wonder why older fighters sometimes stick around for longer than they perhaps should, the grass is always greener… That single fight contract would have paid more than any of the fighter’s previous UFC fights. And for comparison, Phil “CM Punk” Brooks made that amount for both of his fights in the organization. Another example, despite it being MMA, would be the aforementioned Liddell vs Ortiz trilogy bout where they pocketed a combined $450,000 (Liddell with $250,000, Ortiz with $200,000).

“No. There’s opportunity and money to be made, so seeing these big names transition isn’t that shocking,” LeBarr responded when asked if he’s surprised to see notable MMA names in BKB. “In addition to the money, it’s now something these guys can test themselves in. It’s one of the purest forms of combat sports, going bare-knuckle to bare-knuckle. This may be a bad example, but in it’s started in stages, and for the promotions very first event, you saw WBKFF bring on Chris Leben, Phil Baroni, Johny Hendricks, the list goes on and on, and though nobody knew of the shit show that was to come following the event, you had all these high level, big-name guys want to test themselves in something new. I’m not surprised to see well-known athletes make the transition, and I believe a lot more will.”

LeBarr’s initial sentiment is essentially completely in line with Chris Lytle’s reasons for returning in 2018 as he told FanSided. Even this coming weekend, on September 21, MMA pioneer, Ken Shamrock, will host his debut event for Valor Bare Knuckle.

There is no shortage of interested parties in this budding concept of fisticuffs. Fellow legend to Shamrock keeping their eyes on the attraction is Wanderlei Silva who is going to attend the next BKFC event on October 19. Silva announced to PVT earlier this year that he’s beginning to experience multiple CTE-like symptoms.

Meanwhile, more controversial figures like the convicted domestic abuser and former UFC heavyweight, Lavar Johnson will be fighting on the inaugural Valor event.

Even the next BKFC event will feature some of their biggest names yet as they’ve managed to bring in Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva to face the semi-retired Gabriel Gonzaga.

“I think there’s interest towards the sport, as a fighter, promoter or fan because it’s something new,” LeBarr explained. “A lot of people always tune into fights in hopes of bloody wars, and in a lot of cases, that’s what you get in BKB. This past year has been wild, and with everything, from the ups and downs, there’s a story being told by every organization. People that are watching now, should the sport continue to progress and live on, will be able to say they were around watching the beginning of the newly legalized sport of bare-knuckle boxing, which is always a fun thought.”

A chance

Regardless of one’s thoughts on BKB, no sport comes without its imperfections. And as long as recognizable faces… for the time being… continue to band together and support the sweet science’s much more violent brother, it has a fighting chance.

“The ‘vibe’ [working within the sport] is interesting, to say the least,” LeBarr expressed. “With bare-knuckle boxing being so old, yet so new in how it’s being done as a legal sport, everything I do, or anyone else does is a first.

“When I first offered my services to WBKFF around this time last year, no bare-knuckle promotion had dedicated a dollar amount to coverage of the sport, their announcements, fights, etc. I was the person making announcements, doing photo work, interviewing fighters, and things way beyond what my job title was. With every day being something new, the vibe, as i said, is interesting, but brings an amazing feeling knowing I can help share the story of these guys/girls who are responsible for the rebirth of BKB.”

The post The intriguing inner workings of modern-day bare-knuckle boxing appeared first on The Body Lock.

The co-main event features two seasoned veterans of MMA as Chris ‘The Crippler’ Leben (22-11 MMA) (2-0 BK) takes on a last-minute opponent in Dakota Cochrane (32-13 MMA) (1-0 BK). Both fighters put their undefeated Bare Knuckle records on the line tonight in a double header of combat sports goodness.

Bare Knuckle FC 6 Round-by-round coverage

Artem Lobov def. Paulie Malignaggi via unanimous decision (48-47 x3)

Clean first round from both sides as Paulie Malignaggi looks to establish range while Artem Lobov went for full power blows. The clinch game was predictably in favor for Lobov as he found looping hooks alongside the ropes that have already done damage. Malignaggi has started to gain some momentum now that his feet have been settled in the Bare Knuckle arena.

The jab remains Malignaggi’s most potent tool as he keeps his opponent at bay. Lobov knows that his best option for a finish is an overhand right but the speed of Malignaggi has been another detterent in the offense of the Russian. The focus will now come down to ring control and landed shots as it looks like both fighters refuse to go down stupidly in this bout.

Malignaggi continues to dominate the outside game and his defensive maneuvers have been technical enough to avoid a bulk of Lobov’s damage. The most convincing punch of the third round goes to Lobov though as he clips the chin of Malignaggi with a straight left. The fourth round sees Lobov make significant strides in the offense as he pushes the pace forward after a successful clinch exchange. Lobov may have equalized the rounds in his favor after that herculean effort, but the scores could go either way depending on damage accumulation and total strike differentials heading into the fifth.

The final round doesn’t end with any fireworks as Malignaggi falls into his magician bag. The name of the game is evasion for the former pro boxer as he manages to avoid much of Lobov’s offense but doesn’t land enough in response. In a traditional boxing setting, perhaps Malignaggi walks away victorious but Lobov may merit a victory through damage and forward pressure in this regard.

Dakota Cochrane def. Chris Leben via unanimous decision (49-46 x2, 48-47)

A clinch heavy first round for both fighters as Chris Leben finds early success with the uppercuts. Dakota Cochrane is no novice to this forward pressure and he defends adamantly along the ropes in an effort to stifle some body shots. Leben, ever the aggressor, finds his space to do damage but the fighting once again remains stifled in the center clinch.

Cochrane has really started to up his output in the second round and his shots are finding a home. Leben does well to mitigate some of the damage in the clinch but Cochrane rains down strikes so much that some shots are still finding their way around. The fighting continues with the same pressure and Leben is starting to pick apart Cochrane on the engage. The repeated left hooks from Chris Leben are starting to tack on visible damage to his opponent.

The tempo has taken a step down with the accumulation of damage in past rounds. Leben is still setting the table nicely against Cochrane, but the exchanges aren’t all going his way. Cochrane finds nice angles with his aggressive bursts forward and has made noticeable damage because of it. Both fighters made it a testament to fight to the end of the whistle as Cochrane collapses to the ground in exhaustion at the end of five rounds.

Johnny Bedford def. Reggie Barnett Jr. via unanimous decision (47-45 x2, 48-44)

Reggie Barnett and Johnny Bedford waste no time getting acquainted in round one as both fighters swing for the fences early. Bedford lands some monster hooks in the flurry and drops Barnett Jr. twice in the early goings. The rest of round one has slowed down a notch as Barnett and Bedford both take a moment to reset.

Barnett is battling back from some serious adversity that he faced in round one. The 3-0 BK fighter has resorted to clinch strikes in order to establish some control. The resurgence of momentum for Barnett is now in full stride as he puts together his shots. The final flurry of round two sees Barnett finally get back to his best.

The momentum shift has been notable in the arena and in the ring. Bedford started this fight with so much steam but Barnett has now harnessed the pressure and keeps moving forward. After a pause for a low blow, Bedford starts to pick his shots and lands flush right hooks on Barnett. Bedford ends the fourth round with another knockdown and the crowd is once again firmly alive at the Expo Hall.

The final rounds commence with Bedford finding his groove and keeping the fight at a winnable pace with his clinch work. Barnett’s pedigree is unquestionable but Bedford has shown that his MMA credentials are nothing to scoff at either. Bedford continued pushing the pace and his effort over five rounds surely put him over his opponent.

Julian Lane def. Tom Shoaff via unanimous decision (49-45 x3)

Julian Lane found his angles early in this bout as he continuously peppered Tom Shoaff with a litany of shots that sent him reeling. While a knockdown wasn’t achieved, Lane did enough to comfortably punish his opponent any time he came forward. Not only that, but Lane’s defensive maneuvers to get out of danger were too slick as well. Shoaff will need to win back momentum quickly if he wants to win this fight and get the crows in his favor.

Lane remains effective with the jab, and finds a strong right hook to rattle Shoaff once again. To Shoaff’s credit, he is remaining resilient and taking all of Lane’s best strikes in stride. Shoaff tries to keep this one on the outside but Lane is too quick with his overhand punches. The success rate for Lane’s punches are easily eclipsing his opponents at this stage, and he ends the second round comfortably ahead.

The pace has slowed down considerably this round but Lane continues to find the better of these exchanges as Shoaff fails to solidify his reach advantage. The end of the round sees Shoaff finding a good rhythm as he strings together some jab, straight combos. The gas tanks will reset for the final two rounds and so far Julian Lane is still the frontrunner at the end of three.

The Bare Knuckle game starts to manifest itself as chess with both Lane and Shoaff trading jabs and straights seemingly at will. The more venomous strikes are once again coming from Lane as he has the answer to any strike Shoaff lands and still finds a way to slip out defensively. Shoaff comes forward and delivers his best round in the fifth. Shoaff kept his hands up and just found his angles to stun Lane at the end of a stiff uppercut in transition. Regardless of the hurrah, Lane wins this fight comfortably based on won rounds. Another productive ten minutes of action for Bare Knuckle FC.

Joey Beltran def. Jamie Campbell via TKO (uppercuts) – R2, 1:50

A surprisingly calculated first round from the heavyweights as both Jamie Campbell and Joey Beltran manage the distance effectively. Campbell does well to keep the fight at bay but Beltran continues to collapse the range and find his chances. The first round ends with little to remark other than a solid feeling out phase for both heavyweight contenders.

Beltran is not letting up one bit with the game plan remaining very much the same in this second round. The reach advantage is being neutralized with his massive strides into the danger zone and Beltran’s flurry of punches proved the difference in this fight as he pressured Campbell into two successive knockdowns.

Joe Riggs and Walber Barros fight to a unanimous draw (47-47 x3)

After a ginger start, both Joe Riggs and Walber Barros start to find their spots as they enter the pocket with vigor. Barros is landing the jab but the follow up hooks from Joe Riggs are equalizing with great effect. An enticing first round of action turned is as both fighters have yet to find the better of each other.

Barros starts the second round with a comfortable flow but the intensity of Riggs’ offense keeps the crowd on edge. The ‘whoo’ chants start to file through as Riggs and Barros continue to test the waters, knowing the immediate danger that lies ahead of their shots. Barros ends the round with a massive overhand right straight down the pipe that finds the chin of Joe Riggs and leaves him on his butt to end the round.

Another contentious round as Riggs tries to claw back onto the scorecards after dropping the last two. The clinch game continues to be controlled positionally by ‘Diesel’ but the defensive IQ of Barros is on full display as he continues to pick apart the seemingly more seasoned opponent.

Joe Riggs has started to accumulate a lot of hits and the damage on Barros’ right side is a testament to that dirty work. The clinch continues to be a point of contention for both fighters as Riggs enters the exchanges with more aplomb than his opponent at this late stage. Barros continues to walk down his opponent and force a flurry of strikes along the ropes but Riggs is just too savvy and stifles the pressure adequately. Riggs ends the fight looking the fresher of the two but the fight could be anyone’s game at this juncture.

Jim Alers def. Elvin Brito via KO (uppercuts) – R1, 0:45

Jim Alers came out with a vengeance in his first appearance for the Bare Knuckle FC banner. His opponent, Elvin Brito, came into this fight fully confident in his abilities but once again the martial arts pedigree of Alers was too much to overcome. Alers remained smooth in the pocket as he dominated the center of the ring. Jim Alers picked apart his opponent and ended the fight in record timing.

David Mundell def. Drew Lipton via TKO (head and body strikes) – R1, 1:35

David Mundell came into this fight as a big favorite and his accumen within the combat sports world did not disappoint against Drew Lipton. Mundell came forward and found success early with a slew of punches to the head and body. The pressure was overwhelming to Lipton who got knocked down twice in successive fashion all within the first round. Mundell makes a massive statement with this win.

Abdiel Velasquez def. Travis Thompson via unanimous decision (49-46) (48-47) (50-45)

Abdiel Velasquez the more mobile fighter in this early going as Travis Thompson opts for forward control. Velasquez does extremely well to commit to damage in the clinch as he finds the better of Thompson with left and right hooks. Thompson starts to level back and finds his target with body strikes once Velasquez feels comfortable enough to engage. Ultimately, the round falls with Velasquez as he keeps up the volume to secure him the round.

Velasquez remains the smoother boxer in this fight as Thompson is frustrated at not finding too much punches landed in spite of his control positionally in the fight. Thompson’s best strikes have come to the body but Velasquez remains the craftier fighter and is finding his chances on the outside with little rebuttal.

Early in the round Velasquez came out with a bit of a pompous stance in an effort to make it look easy against his opponent. Thompson immediately finds his shot within range as he starts to make it a dogfight with his opponent. The action has paced itself more in this round as Velasquez still looks to pick shots as Thompson controls the tempo, but the slick head movement from Velasquez leaves his opponent missing the target.

The boxing clinic from Velasquez continues into the fourth as he relies heavily on his footwork to avoid the dangerous angles Thompson is trying to set up. The least amount of punches thrown in this round but Velasquez still finds a way to remain potent in spite of an eye poke suffered with thirty seconds left to spare in the round. The final round proves much more fiery as both fighters know they have two minutes left to make an impression on the judges. Velasquez gains the approval of the Tampa crowd as he closes out the fight in spectacular fashion.

Chris Boffil def. Jerad Hayes via TKO (uppercuts) – R3, 1:55

Chris Boffil controls the cage early as he finds success with early jabs and dirty bxing. Jerad Hayes responds with a massive straight right that makes the crowd pop with excitement. Boffil the more active fighter but Hayes is weaving out of danger well defensively. Boffil ends the round with a nice exchange that may have nicked him the round indefinitely.

Hayes starts to feel the pressure and his aggression coming forward leaves him susceptible to big shots from his opponent. Boffil is dominating the exchanges when kept at range but Hayes is finding his rhythm in the pocket. Hayes buckles down and puts Boffil on the ground with another stinging combination that leads to the first knockdown of the evening. 10-8 comfortably for Jerad Hayes at the end of round two.

Even with the knockdown against his favor, Boffil starts the third the more active fighter. An early exchange leaves Hayes visibly staggered and Boffil continues to pounce on a tired and injured Hayes. Chris Boffil scores two knockdowns in similar fashion as he pummels an exhausted Jerad Hayes and the fight is finally called in the third round.

The post Bare Knuckle FC 6: Paulie Malignaggi vs. Artem Lobov live results and play by play appeared first on The Body Lock.

In 2016, following three years away from mixed martial arts, Leben signed a contract with Bellator MMA. “The Crippler” was ready to get back into the cage, but the serious diagnosis then prevented him from doing so.

“I ended up signing a three-fight contract with Bellator. [I] went back to get my pre-fight medicals; couldn’t pass the [electrocardiogram] EKG. Ultimately, they sent me to a specialist to do what they call an echocardiogram, which lets you know what the ejection fraction of your heart is, and my ejection fraction was, like, 14-17%, somewhere in that range, which is basically terrible,” Leben told The Body Lock.

That day, said Leben, effects of the condition were evident.

“You know, I had trained, like, twice that day, already. I did grappling and then straight conditioning, you know, and during my training, I remember my coach [IBJJF World champion] Baret Yoshida was with me and he goes, ‘You’re kind of turning purple, man, maybe you should sit down.'”

Leben believed the reasons for his heart’s abnormal, diminished efficiency stemmed from his lengthy sporting career and a life tinged by excessive partying.

“Due to what I believe was, you know, excessive alcohol – among other things; lifestyle choices, diet, everything else, stress. You know, I had shot out my heart. Drinking for all those years, fighting for UFC, burning the candle from both ends. You know, training all day, partying all night, not sleeping…”

Doctors offered Leben somber prognoses: he would need a heart transplant or would need to follow a diligent regiment of prescription medicine, and even then, a lifesaving device like a pacemaker might be necessary.

Instead, Leben made drastic changes to his lifestyle.

“Luckily, at that time, I had already started to revamp my life. At least I had quit drinking before I [attempted to come] back to Bellator. Mentally, I felt clearer than I had ever, at the time, but health issues don’t change overnight. I continued to go in every six months for an echocardiogram, changing my diet, changing my supplementation, completely changing my lifestyle.

Ultimately, it got better, it got better, it got to the point where the doctor said, ‘Hey, you could do whatever you want.’ We waited even longer, and the doctor says, ‘You know, I don’t know how you – usually, guys with your issue, they hit a plateau, but your signs just keep getting better and better. You’re completely healthy.'”

A visceral attraction to bare-knuckle

With a new lease on life, Chris Leben was able to return to combat sports, but it wasn’t MMA that lured him out of what was, essentially, a second retirement. Instead, “The Crippler” was drawn in by a new, polarizing form of fighting: bare-knuckle boxing.

“The bare-knuckle guys were calling, you know,” Leben said. “Initially, they called me and asked. They said, ‘Hey, I hope you’re interested in that.’ I kind of looked around a bit at some other MMA leagues, but I kept being drawn back.”

It was, Leben says, watching others compete in bare-knuckle – and his reaction to doing so – that led him to sign with World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation (WBKFF), where he would eventually make his bare-knuckle debut.

“I started watching some of the bare-knuckle fights on YouTube… I’m an MMA guy, and I’m not one of those guys that was tired of MMA, per se, but with bare-knuckle, I was watching it, and I was like, ‘Dude, this sport is – one, it’s super exciting and two, it looks like it was designed for the way that I fight.’

So I thought, ‘Hey, why not?'”

Initially, Leben intended to sign with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC), the promotion in which he currently competes. However, WBKFF swooped in at the last minute with an offer that was, ultimately, too good to be true.

“Well, initially, I was talking to BKFC,” Leben said, “but then that other promotion [WBKFF] called me. I had already kind of struck a deal with [BKFC], at which point the other promotion called me and said, ‘Hey, please don’t sign, we’ll give you twice as much money.’ Obviously, I’m fighting for my family, so I said, ‘Well, if you’ll pay me twice as much… Give me some up front, and you’ve got yourself a deal.'”

Leben signed with WBKFF ahead of the promotion’s first-ever event, which took place on November 9, 2018. There, Leben would face “The New York Badass”, fellow UFC veteran Phil Baroni, in what quickly became a heated grudge match. Leben knocked Baroni out in around a minute and a half, stopping him with a devastating left hand.

Nightmare non-payment from WBKFF

While Chris Leben would emerge from the cage the victor, it certainly didn’t feel that way after the event. A month after WBKFF’s inaugural show, reports began to surface that WBKFF had not paid its fighters their agreed-upon purses.

According to various reports, WBKFF had failed to pay the majority of the competitors from its first and only event. Leben was no exception.

Today, Chris Leben is in the midst of a lawsuit against WBKFF and its owner, Tomasz Stankiewicz, who has since been incarcerated in federal prison on unrelated charges of wire fraud in Illinois, which he pled guilty to prior to forming WBKFF. K2 Radio Stankiewicz is also facing several charges in Casper, Wyoming, where the event was held, stemming from non-payment.

“I need to call my lawyer, actually, because what happens is we went ahead and filed a claim,” said Leben. “We could not find Tom, uh – I can’t pronounce his last name – the owner, we would’ve served him paperwork, so we had to wait for him to go to prison on previous charges: real estate fraud,” Leben said with an exasperated laugh.

“So, [Stankiewicz] should’ve been served at this point, and then he had 30 days to rebuttal. Hopefully, he didn’t, and I just win. We’ll see what the next step is from there. I don’t know yet if that time allotted for him, that of statue limitations allotted for him to a rebuttal, is up. Hopefully, I just win, but we’ll have to move forward in court.”

“Obviously, hindsight is twenty-twenty,” laughed Leben. “Wouldn’t have done that if I would’ve known I wasn’t going to get paid by them.”

A new start in BKFC

Even with the disaster of WBKFF’s non-payment behind him, Chris Leben was committed to giving bare-knuckle a go. Fortunately, Leben says, BKFC was still interested.

“It didn’t work out, and luckily BKFC was – Dave Feldman was nice enough and professional enough that after that, he still called me back and said, ‘Hey, look, we know it didn’t work out there. We know what they told you they were going to pay you, but I’ll tell you what I can pay. It’s not [as] much, but, you know, we’re sure the check will be good. We’d love to have you still come over fight for us.’

“I got to tell you, you know, I was extremely grateful there were no hard feelings with Dave Feldman still accepting me, and allowed me to jump over to them,” said Leben.

In BKFC, Leben continued his winning ways, knocking out Justin Baesman in just twenty-five seconds, crushing him with a barrage of uppercuts. Next, Leben will take on Bellator veteran Brennan Ward (14-6) in what will be Ward’s bare-knuckle debut.

“Brennan Ward’s certainly, you know, everybody’s younger than me at this point,” The 38-year-old Leben says with a laugh.

“He’s a tough guy, you know? Boxing is where his foundation is, you know, boxing and wrestling are what he does and he does well. He’s got a lot of first-round knockouts; he’s a big hitter. So, definitely, I think my toughest challenge to date. He’s a competitor; he’s somebody that wants it. He wants it, I want it, you know, and only one of us get it.”

Though Ward has yet to compete in bare-knuckle, Leben has been tirelessly studying his previous MMA fights to find the openings to exploit in their upcoming BKFC 6 matchup.

“Of course I have, absolutely. I mean, like, I want to win, you know? I’ve been doing this for a while now, you know, and [my coaches and I have] developed a way that I do things from the beginning of the camp to the end of the camp. Anything you’ve seen me do before in the past, probably, I’m doing that plus some for this fight to prepare.”

Despite his first two fights against Baroni and Baesman combining for a fight time of approximately two minutes, Leben is anticipating a longer, tougher fight with Brennan Ward.

“I think he’s a more educated fighter than either one of those guys, you know, so I don’t see him doing what Baroni did, which is rushing straight forward, and I also don’t see him doing what Baesman did, which is backpedaling. You know, I think he’s going to circle; a lot more technique, and he’s going to make me settle. If the fight doesn’t end quick, obviously, you can’t fight five rounds at that tempo. Eventually, you’ve got to settle in, you got to start to pick your shots, you gotta set things up, and I believe that’s what’s going to happen.”

With that said, Chris Leben is certainly alright with scoring another, lightning-quick knockout.

“Now, obviously, quick knockouts are great, you know? If that’s all I ever get from here on out, I’ll take them. But that’s certainly not what I’m counting on, I’m certainly studying tape and developing a game plan to outsmart this guy for five rounds.”

Chris Leben’s future in bare-knuckle

Chris Leben is in a unique position to address the future of bare-knuckle boxing, specifically, BKFC. He was an early star of MMA, one of the first personalities to truly break through to a mainstream audience from his time in the Ultimate Fighter house, and he has competed in two different bare-knuckle promotions.

For Leben, the sky is the limit for BKFC.

“Let’s look at it this way: look at what MMA has done in the last ten years; if you look at how mainstream MMA has gotten. But then you look at your average MMA fan. I’m talking about guys who don’t train jiu jitsu; guys that live somewhere in Middle America, and they watch their MMA fights after Monday Night Raw… to understand the advanced jiu jitsu… you’ve gotta do jiu jitsu yourself to even understand what’s going on the ground. Now, everybody understands a fist fight. Everybody can watch and go, ‘This guy’s winning, this guy’s losing.’

“[BKFC’s] exciting for everybody. Some of us like the ground game. I mean, even me – I love jiu jitsu – but when I watch two high-level strikers go at it and someone gets taken down, I’m like, ‘Dang it!'” said Leben.

“There’s no shortage of excitement for [bare-knuckle]. I think that it’s more open to your average person and your average spectator to be able to tune in and enjoy it. I think ten years ago, I don’t think it would’ve been dubbed ‘too raw, too dangerous’; it would’ve had a lot of backlash. But I think now, education for combat sports has gone up. I think it could do really well. The people that would be against it ten years ago, they don’t seem to be lashing out as much. More people understand and can enjoy this than a high-level MMA match.”

With his health better than ever and some of the fastest wins of his career coming in quick succession, Chris Leben is staving off any calls for retirement from his newfound passion. In fact, he’s gunning for gold.

“At this point, I’m kind of trying to appreciate the ride a lot more than I did in the past. You know what, I’m really trying to take it one fight at a time and then, you know, after each fight, you know, I kind of reassess things. Obviously, after the last two fights, there wasn’t a lot of reassessing to do,” Leben said with a laugh. “Nobody retires when they’re winning like that!”

“But, [I’m] just taking it one step at a time, and we’ll see what happens. You know, I never try to start looking past an opponent as far as calling out other guys and stuff. Like, let’s get through Brennan Ward, first. Ultimately, speculation if this fight with Brennan Ward works out well for me, I’d like to see a 185-pound title in my future, and whoever that takes to get belt would be who I want to fight.”

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