Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship plans to return to New Mexico after a successful debut on Saturday at the Rio Rancho Event Center.
BKFC 28 featured an array of local fighters, who created plenty of energy and excitement for a vocal, enthusiastic crowd.
“Bringing BKFC to Albuquerque was nothing short of amazing,” David Feldman, the founder and president of BKFC, told KRQE. “The fights were great, some great knockouts, some great fighters. But man, this crowd was unbelievable. Enthusiastic fight town.”
According to KRQE, Albuquerque-trained fighter Christine Ferea successfully defended her 125-belt with a first-round stoppage of Taylor Starling. Ferea overwhelmed Starling early in the bout, landing multiple combinations. Starling went down from the barrage of blows, and the bout was stopped soon after she struggled to get back on her feet.
In the co-main event, former MMA standout John Dodson scored a first-round knockout over Ryan Benoit. Meanwhile, Dodson’s younger brother Eric recorded the fastest knockout of the night, finishing Nick Villar in 23 seconds.
“I had to go out there and compete against my brother,” John Dodson told KRQE. “It’s not me against my opponent. It’s me against him to see who had the fastest knockout. Sadly to say that he beat me in 23 seconds. Ugh! I had to drop my dude four times and (Eric) got his in 23 seconds.”
Other local fighters who came out victorious in their bare-knuckle debut include Will Santiago, Joshua Moreno and Jayme Hinshaw.
BKFC officials said they are planning to come back “two or three times” in 2023. “I knew it was a fight town, and I’m so glad that they got to experience BKFC,” Feldman said. “Now we have a lot of new fans for life.”