Julian Lane will defend the BKFC Welterweight Title against Dustin Pague on 17 January at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. BKFC announced the title fight over the weekend.
It’s the newly crowned Lane’s first title defence since winning the belt this past August. Lane defeated previously unbeaten former champion Gorjan Slaveski to claim the crown at BKFC’s big August event in Sturgis.
Julian Lane An Unlikely Champion
Back in 2022, it looked like Lane’s days as a bare knuckle contender were over.
He looked uninspired in a decision loss to Dave Mundell, his third straight defeat and fifth in sixth fights.
Lane disappeared from BKFC for over a year after the Mundell bout.
He tried his hand at gloved boxing in Russia, and was stopped in the second round by kickboxing and bare knuckle standout Vlad Tuinov.
Lane also lost a bare knuckle fight to Vladislav Kovalev, participated in a Polish slapfighting event, and had his first MMA fight in five years.
He eventually resurfaced in BKFC with a TKO by cuts win over Murat Kazgan. Lane then beat Evgenii Kurdanov by TKO because of injury.
A decision win over former boxing contender Alfredo Angulo followed.
The resurgent Lane was then matched with Cameron VanCamp in the BKFC on DAZN 4 main event in February. Lane feel behind on points before he leveled Van Camp.with a right in the fourth round.
Lane the continued his amazing comeback by defeating Slaveski by unanimous decision at BKFC 79. Lane improved to 9-9 (3 KOs), according to Boxrec.
Dustin Pague Gets His Shot
Pague (5-2) is rated fifth in the BKFC welterweight rankings. His only losses are to Jake Young by disqualification and welterweight contender Carlos Trinidad-Snake. Against Trinidad-Snake, Pague couldn’t continue because of a jaw injury.
Pague has won 2 matches in a row, and showed a warrior’s heart in stopping Ryan Petersen in July. The win was impressive enough to earn the veteran a title shot.
