This year is expected to be a big year for BKFC. The promotion’s president David Feldman has already announced that Triller has purchased a majority stake in the promotion and they are expected to host more events than ever before this year.
In addition to hosting more events, BKFC is wanting to have some international showcases. They have had their eyes on Dublin and London as two places that they really wanted to host big events.
Well, the promotion has announced that they are heading to London in July. On July 9th, BKFC will host their first event in London and they are bringing one of their biggest stars for the main event.
David Feldman announced that Paige VanZant (0-2 BKFC) will be headlining the event in July. It’s worth noting that this fight will be the final fight on PVZ’s Bare Knuckle contract.
PVZ’s BKFC Run
In 2020, BKFC went all out on the free agent market when they signed Paige VanZant. The UFC veteran who had become even more popular online was one of the biggest free agents in MMA and in boxing. Bellator also tried hard for PVZ, but BKFC came forward with a huge offer.
The goal was to have PVZ lead Bare Knuckle into the main stream. However, the desired result hasn’t come to fruition. VanZant has lost both of her Bare Knuckle fights and neither did particularly well on PPV in terms of buy rates.
The deal that VanZant signed was for three fights and by all indications, this will be her final fight in BKFC. PVZ relied a lot on her kicks and grappling in the UFC which made the Bare Knuckle decision perplexing at the time. This was strictly a money-move that both sides were hoping would pan out.
VanZant has expressed interest in returning to MMA, but her primary focus is on professional wrestling. VanZant has recently signed a wrestling contract with AEW and is planning on focusing on that full time after this fight in July.
She’s already made several appearances for AEW. Now, there is no opponent yet for the July fight, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they try to give her an easy opponent to let her go out on a win. If she goes 0-3 in BKFC with little promotional growth, it’ll go down as one of the worst signings in MMA free agency history.