BKFC fighter Justin Thornton dies after suffering knockout loss at BKFC 20

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This is eggzacktly why the Fertittas got out of MMA.

Only a matter of time.

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I agree, likely less long term damageā€¦but I feel itā€™s easier to knock guys out cold without the gloves, so itā€™s not that hard to draw a line to it being part of the reason the guy took the awkward fall. I think the matchmaking combined with the increased chances of guys getting knocked stiff because of the bare fist played a role.

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Just out of curiosity, I just looked at this upcoming BKFC and hereā€™s what we have (card as of 4 days ago from fightmag.com)

  • Joe Riggs vs. Melvin Guillard - not a terrible matchup, both guys obviously on the downside of their career, but both in similar spots with similar styles. Thereā€™s a size difference, but itā€™s not like we have a 170 pounder fighting at HWT now.

  • Christine Ferea vs. Calista Silgado - not sure what to make of this. Christine is 3-0 in BKFC, Calista is like 19-13 in regular boxing.

  • Lloyd Woodard vs. Brett Fields - Lloyd is 14-7 in MMA, lost his last 3 by KO/TKO and no fights since 2016, making BKFC debut. Fields is 1-2 as an amateur in MMA. Appears to be making BKFC debut, and I donā€™t see a boxing record. Am I missing something?

  • Taylor Starling vs. Randine Eckholm

  • Leo Bercier vs. Luis Villasenor - Leo is 15-10 in MMA, 40 years old and no fights in 4 years. I see Luis is 41 years old, but donā€™t see any MMA or boxing fights ever. Is that legit, if so WTF are we doing here?

  • Kai Stewart vs. Darrick Gates - Kai is 6-3 as an amateur in MMA, Gates is 2-5 as an amateur and it looks like they fought MMA 7 months ago with Kai winning by TKO in about 2 minutes.

  • Tom Shoaff vs. Josh Wright - Tom is 11-4, no fights in 3 years, and Josh is 6-3 in MMA. Seems like a matchup that makes sense.

  • Bryant Acheson vs. Josh Watson - Bryant is 1-0 as a pro but had a few amateur fights 7-8 years ago also. Watson is 6-4 overall, but hasnā€™t fought since 2013. However, Iā€™ve seen him on the local level and he could fight. He beat Carlos Lovato, and Carlos was a motherfucker. Only took a few MMA fight, but he had boxing fights also and was just a rough dude in general. No fights in a while but he beat some legit tough dudes on the local scene.

  • Jade Masson-Wong vs. Crystal Pittman - Jade is 3-2 (and super hot) and Crystal appears to be taking her first fight of any kind.

  • James Dennis vs. Sawyer Depee - James is 5-6 in amateur MMA, Sawyer is 2-1 in amateur MMA, both making BKFC debuts.

  • Will Dunkle vs. Theron Martin

  • Louie Lopez vs. Myles Mazurkiewicz

I lost interest in looking up the rest, but I guess this mostly agrees with the points I made aboveā€¦lots of guys fighting BKFC with limited experience, or havenā€™t fought in a LONG time. Seems like an odd choice for many of these signings, and thereā€™s definitely some pretty lopsided matchmaking here.