Rule #1 of Fight Club: Talk about Fight Club!
BKFC President David Feldman announced the promotion’s new Bare Knuckle Fight Club series will debut on 7 April in Philadelphia. The news was announced during Saturday’s Knucklemania VI broadcast.
Bare Knuckle Fight Club events will differ from normal BKFC fight cards.
“There’s two different weight divisions each night, There’s eight guys in each tournament,” explained Feldman at Saturday’s Knucklemania VI postfight press conference.
“One round fights. They’re gonna fight one round. Winner goes on, loser goes home. The two winners of the night get $100,000 contracts with BKFC,” Feldman continued.
Fans tuning in to BKFC Fight Club series will see new faces. The series provides a platform for bare knuckle’s next generation.
“These are gonna be guys that haven’t fought bare knuckle before or have maybe only one bare knuckle fight,” said Feldman.
“This is about bringing up new talent. Creating new stars,” he said.
In adopting a single-night, single-elimination tournament format for Bare Knuckle Fight Club, BKFC is following a proven formula used by legendary combat sports promotions.
Japan’s K-1 Kickboxing league held annual K-1 World Grand Prix events in Japan that drew large crowds and sizable television viewing audiences. The early UFC, in the pre Dana White era, held eight-man, single night tournaments that captivated pay-per-view audiences.
BKFC will be the first major bare knuckle promotion to promote elimination tournaments. Given the frequency of facial lacerations and swelling and injuries, the promotion must ensure there are tournament alternates available for each fight club event.
Bare Knuckle Fight Club promises to be unique in many ways. Normally, tournament fighters know their first opponent. That won’t be the case with Bare Knuckle Fight Club, according to Feldman.
“They’re not gonna know who they’re fighting until they walk into the ring,” he said.
BKFC co-owner and UFC legend Conor McGregor will be involved in the show.
“Conor McGregor will be the man who will say ‘Fighter number one you’re fighting Fighter number seven, go to the ring now,” said Feldman.
BKFC’s Bare Knuckle Fight Club series is inspired by the legendary Fight Club film. The company plans to make the events feel like something you could see in the movie.
“It’s going to be a very, very underground feel. 88 VIP seas and the rest standing. It’s gonna be a ring lowered to the ground. It’s gonna be sick, man. This is gonna be the most viral thing we’ve ever done with BKFC.”
“And you guys are gonna fucking love this. It’s gonna be amazing.”
