Another former boxing world champion is making his bare knuckle boxing debut later this month.
Randall Bailey will fight on the upcoming Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship event on June 22 in Tampa, Florida. Bailey will take on Brazilian MMA fighter Daniel Santos.
Throughout his pro career, Bailey has won world titles in two weight classes. Bailey's first world title reign began in 1999 when he defeated Carlos Gonzalez to win the WBO junior welterweight title and made two title defenses before losing the belt in 2000. Bailey's second title reign didn't start until 2012 when he defeated Mike Jones to win the IBF welterweight title, but his reign came to an end later that year when he lost to Devon Alexander in his first title defense.
After losing to Alexander, Bailey went on a three-fight win streak, but that streak was snapped in his last fight in 2016. Bailey traveled to Brisbane, Australia to fight Jeff Horn for the IBF Intercontinental and WBO Intercontinental welterweight titles but Bailey lost the bout.
The card will be headlined by the BKFC debut of former boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi as he takes on former UFC fighter Artem Lobov. Also announced for the card is a fight between former UFC veteran Chris Leben taking on former Bellator middleweight title challenger Brennan Ward as well as the finals of the BKFC lightweight title tournament between Reggie Barnett and Johnny Bedford.