Bec Rawlings will put gloves back on for her next fight.
Rawlings has a 3-1 record with BKFC after she parted ways with the UFC in 2018. More recently in MmA, she has gone 1-1 for Bellator. Now she will make her professional boxing debut Saturday against Natasha Kurene at an event called Star Power in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
Rawlings hasn’t competed since a unanimous decision loss to Britain Hart at BKFC 26 in June. With BKFC offering her no fights for the remainder of the year, Rawlings has decided to lace up the gloves to remain active.
“Bare Knuckle haven’t been booking me. They’re not booking me until next year, so I just decided to put my gloves on and have my pro boxing debut to stay busy and mix it up in the gloves boxing,” Rawlings told MMA Junkie. “I felt like my last fight in June was very lackluster, so I wanted to get back in there as soon as possible and January of next year wasn’t good enough for me.”
The 16-fight MMA veteran says bareknuckle boxing has sparked up a major interest in boxing and she isn’t sure if she’ll compete in MMA again. Rawlings’ husband, Adrian Rodriguez, has competed for the same boxing promotion for which she’ll make her debut, which helped land her this opportunity.
“Since doing bareknuckle boxing, I’ve fallen in love with boxing as a sport. So putting the gloves on has always been something I’ve wanted to do. I feel like it’s the perfect timing for me. I’m just coming into my boxing style, really. I’m falling in love with the sport and the skill that it takes to do. Being on the card for me is perfect timing right now while Bareknuckle aren’t keeping me busy.”
