By Robert Potes
EBC Florida Bureau
TAMPA, Fla. (Eagle News) –Combat sports continue to have a strong presence in the Tampa Bay area. One week after UFC Fight Night was held in the area, the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) made its second appearance in the Sunshine State.
BKFC fighters square off in the “squared circle,” a 22-foot circular ring atop a 28-foot square platform, allowing for optimal viewing.While fighters have their wrists and thumbs taped, their knuckles are completely exposed. There are five, 2-minute rounds in each bout. When fighters are in a clinch, they are permitted to strike with one arm to punch their way out. Winners are decided via knockout, technical knockout, or judge’s decision.
The three bouts in the prelims ended quickly, each with a knockout. Zach Juusola started the night with a second-round knockout of Fred Pierce. In his homecoming bout, Tampa fighter Jared Warren knocked down Brian Maxwell twice in the first round, earning his first win via TKO. A Cuban fighter out of Miami, Gustavo Trujillo, earned the fastest knockout of the night, defeating Robert Morrow in 32 seconds.
In the main card, Florida fighters continued to dominate the action. Delaney Owen of Clearwater defeated Sheena Starr in the only female bout of the night. Owen knocked Starr down in the second round; Starr was able to get up, but refused to continue, giving Owen the TKO win.
“I was feeling really good. I was actually feeling really confident. There was definitely some pressure being the only female fight,” said Owen. “My three other teammates before me all got knock outs, so I was like ‘I wanna get another knockout.’ This is going to be fun. Other than that, it was just another day in the office.”
Spring Hill native and crowd favorite Abdiel Velazquez had an impressive showing against Rick Caruso, who had a huge height advantage. In the first round Velazquez knocked down Caruso with a left and then continued to apply pressure, subsequently knocked him down again before the end of the round. In the second round, Velazquez remained relentless, knocking Caruso down again, causing the ref to put a stop to the fight.
“This fight I really stuck to the game plan,” said Velasquez. “The game plan was to go and strike and be aggressive and push. Be aggressive. If you don’t be aggressive, you can’t really strike a tall guy.”
In the co-main event of the night, BKFC pitted undefeated Jim Alers against Julian Lane. Looking to extend his win streak, Alers came out fast and aggressive, setting the tone for the fight. He landed a upper cut in round two that dropped Lane to the canvas. Despite Lane being clearly shaken and woozy, the ref allowed the fight to continue. After another barrage of punches from Alers, the ref quickly stepped in and called the bout.
As for what’s next, Alers said “I want to be that guy. I want to be the face of Bare Knuckle. I want to be the one that they can be like ‘Yo, we got Jim Alers on the card’ and people are excited to see it and buy pay-per-views. I want to grow with the company.”
Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Gabriel Gonzaga paired off in the main event. The clash between these two heavy weights got off to a slow start, but Gonzaga looked to be faster and the aggressor. In round two, Gonzaga was able to drop Silva twice with the ref stopping the fight after the second knock down.
The BKFC was legalized in the U.S. in 2018 and as it continues to grow the organizers hope to bring a modernized look to the oldest form of sanctioned fighting.
(Eagle News Service)