Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship returned to Biloxi, Mississippi for another pay-per-view card, this time headlined by the debuting Artem Lobov.
Lobov, a former UFC fighter, had a wild and bloody main event against Jason Knight at BKFC 5, but it was Lobov who picked up the victory by unanimous decision. Knight opened things up with a shocking knockdown seconds into the fight, but Lobov recovered by dropping Knight in rounds one, two and three.
With the win over Knight, there's nothing standing between Lobov and a showdown with rival Paulie Malignaggi. Malignaggi, a former boxing world champion, signed with the promotion several weeks back and immediately went after Lobov, having a physical confrontation with him recently in New York.
The feud stems all the way back to Malignaggi's already-existing beef with Conor McGregor, Lobov's teammate, after McGregor and Malignaggi had an infamous sparring session during the build-up for the former UFC champion's fight with Floyd Mayweather in 2017.
Below are the results of the main card for BKFC 5.
- Artem Lobov defeated Jason Knight by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-46)
- Chris Leben defeated Justin Baesman by TKO, round 1, 0:25
- Christine Ferea defeated Britain Hart by TKO, round 2 to win the Police Gazette American Women's Featherweight Bare Knuckle Championship
- Sam Shewmaker and Chase Sherman fought to a split draw (50-45 Sherman, 48-47 Shewmaker, 48-48)
- Reggie Barnett defeated Rusty Crowder by unanimous decision (50-44, 50-44, 50-44) to advance to the BKFC Lightweight Tournament Finals
- Johnny Bedford defeated Abdiel Velazquez by TKO, round 4, 0:58 to advance to the BKFC Lightweight Tournament Finals
- Isaac Vallie-Flagg defeated Randy Hedderick by TKO, round 3, 1:22
- Harris Stephenson defeated Khalib Harris by split decision (50-47, 47-48, 49-46)
