Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, the upstart promotion that has invested in a renaissance of bare-knuckle boxing, released the promotion’s inaugural rankings Thursday, and a host of notable mixed martial arts veterans dominated the initial pound-for-pound tally.
Heading the list is reigning BKFC lightweight champion Luis Palomino (6-0), who competed 43 times in MMA before turning to a striking-only ruleset. A Peruvian native, Palomino was featured on the inaugural Bellator MMA card and had a stint with Russia’s Absolute Championship Akhmat but is perhaps best known for a pair of epic battles with current UFC lightweight title contender Justin Gaethje, when the pair were both competing for World Series of Fighting.
Palomino claimed the BKFC lightweight title with a July 2020 win over UFC and Strikeforce veteran Isaac Vallie-Flagg and has since registered four defenses of his title, the most recent of which came at February’s BKFC: KnuckleMania II.
