Tony Lopez and Joey Beltran engaged in a high-octane clash that reignited the bare-knuckle boxing scene in America at BKFC 1. Beltran emerged victorious on June 2nd, 2018 via unanimous decision but everyone came out of that with tremendous momentum.
Lopez spoke to Dylan Bowker of Bare Knuckle News ahead of the five-year anniversary of the inaugural BKFC event. Excerpts from the chat are below.
Tony Lopez
You had a tremendous amount of MMA fights before BKFC 1. What were your thoughts on getting a bare-knuckle boxing offer in the summer of 2018 after the sport being dormant domestically for over a century?
“Oh, man, you know what? When I first heard about it, I was like you know what, this is something I could get into. To me, I’m always like with MMA I figure, I’m like you know what this is like a street fight. You can go on the ground, standing, whatever, you’ve just got to be ready. So when bare-knuckle came about, I saw that as, you know what, being even more like the streets. You know, you get hit and you feel it. You know, how is that going to be? So I loved it when I heard it coming.”
BKFC
Tony Lopez continued, “That was a big thing too. The first one in like you said over a hundred years to be held here. It’s always great to be in the beginning when something starts. It’s like oh hey, you’re part of that, the start of it. So it was, for me, I felt privileged to be able to be on the first one ever here in the United States and make a big show out of it.”
Tony Lopez vs Joey Beltran
Tony Lopez vs Joey Beltran I
Your first bare-knuckle bout with Joey Beltran really reignited the sport and seemed to be the first widely shared BKFC fight social media-wise. What are your main memories and takeaways from that classic fight?
“Well, I mean for me, it’s usually ninety percent of the time it’s about the show. If I can get the fans to get into the fight and, you know, start cheering, whether they’re booing me or cheering me, as long as they’re standing. Just for me to see all the fans get into it, it makes me feel cool. You know, I guess this is what they want to see. So to hear they like what you put out there, the more people get into it, the more the cheers and excitement is. I mean that’s what it was, it was a great fight.”
BKFC 1
This BKFC 1 fight has been compared to Bonnar vs Griffin I in terms of an exciting fight that served as a catalyst for the upward trajectory of a sport. What does that first bare-knuckle Beltran fight mean to your deep combat sports career and the sport of bare-knuckle boxing by proxy?
“Well yeah, you know, I mean that’s a fight that everybody remembers. Because yeah, it was the first one and it was an exciting fight. Everybody got into it; and I mean, I think that helped set the standard for what you’re supposed to do when you get in there. What the fans expect to see and how you should perform. There’s been so many fights after that that have emulated that. Where you know it’s bloody and gory.”
“They’re just going at it like two animals (laughs) to see which one is left standing. I mean it’s just, it’s awesome – the feeling of that fight and then just watching everybody and watching the sport expand, the organization grow. That was my first thing, like you said, I was thinking that it’s going to be a one-and-done. We’ll see how it goes; but yeah, now it’s a runaway train.”
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship
The residual effects on the scene since that historic throwdown with Beltran are evident. Can you speak on where the sport is at in the present day as compared to that night in Summer 2018?
“Oh well, you know what I mean, I just see it’s like the UFC. When the UFC first started out, they were only allowed in so many states and they only had a limited audience. Look where they’re at now. I see Bare Knuckle doing the same thing. Just climbing and exploding.”
