Hand to Hand Combat Championship [BKFC] will stage a show in Britain for the first time this weekend when a stacked event takes place at Wembley Arena.
Bellator welterweight title contender Michael ‘Venom’ Page will make his bare-knuckle debut atop the card in London when he takes on former UFC fighter Mike Perry in a highly anticipated matchup.
The promotion is coming to the UK this weekend for the very first time
It’s a great moment for the BKFC and its chairman, Dave Feldman, who has worked tirelessly since 2011 to legitimize the sport and dispel the myth that it is barbaric.
The BKFC boss is certainly doing a good job as the sport is becoming hugely popular and that is evidenced by the amount of bare knuckle fighting promotions that have been launched in recent years.
“When I started this thing, it became the first legal, sanctioned bare-knuckle fighting business in the history of the world,” Feldman told talkSPORT.
“The first that was ever legal and sanctioned, on June 2, 2018. Four years later, there are currently between 40 and 50 unarmed organizations around the world.”
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BKFC chairman Dave Feldman, left, with boxer Terence Crawford tries to mainstream bare-knuckle boxing
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He tried to do that by bringing big names to BKFC
Despite what many assume, Feldman insists the data his team has collected proves that bare-knuckle boxing is actually safer than traditional boxing and MMA — the two most popular combat sports in the world.
“We have data on over 400 fighters who have fought bare-knuckle over the past four years,” he added.
“All the data compiled tells us that we have fewer injuries than boxing and MMA, fewer facial fractures, fewer head injuries, fewer hand fractures, fewer serious injuries.
“Do we have more lacerations? Yes, we certainly do. But for that we have a plastic surgeon on staff who sews up all the fighters before they leave.
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BKFC to make London debut same night as Usyk v Joshua 2
Usman vs Edwards 2 will also take place this Saturday at UFC 278
Ahead of his debut in a new terror, the BKFC boss understands there is still work to be done to ensure bare hands are accepted for what they are rather than people’s preconceptions about the sport and that the only way it can do is by getting people to connect.
“It’s a bit, I guess you could say brutal. I don’t think it’s barbaric at all because that’s where it all started,” Feldman insisted.
“The way to get rid of that perception is to watch the sport, you’ll understand that it’s not as ‘barbaric’ as you think and is actually as mainstream as boxing and MMA.”
BKFC seems to be here to stay and if Feldman gets his wish, it will soon be as big as boxing and MMA.
After bringing several big-name former UFC stars to his promotion in recent years, the next goal is to convince the big names in boxing to cross paths and he has his sights set on heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
