Bare Knuckle Boxing is (finally) coming to Tennessee.
BKB 42: “Music City Brawl” is locked and loaded for Sat., June 21, 2025 inside The Pinnacle in Nashville, Tenn., featuring seven current and former Bare Knuckle Boxing world champion fighters. BKB 42 will air live on VICE TV in the U.S. and Canada and outside of North America on TalkSPORT.
“Since the modern rebirth of bare knuckle boxing in the United States, BKB — the world’s oldest and largest bare knuckle boxing organization — has been at the forefront of legitimizing and growing the sport,” said BKB CEO Greg Bloom. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to introduce bare knuckle to the state of Tennessee and more so, to the city of Nashville, a continually-evolving epicenter of sports and entertainment. I have no doubt we will leave ‘Volunteer State’ fight fans wanting more of BKB and the Mighty Trigon.”
BKB 42 marks the first live professional bare knuckle boxing event in Tennessee since the state legalized the sport in March of this year.
Headlining the card will be BKB two-division champion, Lorawnt-T “Smash” Nelson defending his Super Middleweight title against the only man to defeat him, Sam “The Caveman” Liera. Their bout serves as a rematch of their 2022 Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame ‘Match of the Year’ when Liera defeated Nelson for the interim BKB Super Middleweight championship.
In the BKB 42 co-main event, former Super Welterweight champion Carlos “Mistoca” Alexandre looks to regain the title he vacated when he returns to the Trigon to face current titleholder, Javon “Wolfman” Wright. Elsewhere on the card, BKB Women’s Welterweight Champion Jamie Driver and BKB Super Featherweight Champion Helen Peralta go toe-to-toe in a Super Lightweight eliminator match for the right to take on Super Lightweight champion Khortni Kamyron.
Also slated for the BKB 42 fight card is former BKB Heavyweight champion and UFC veteran “Hurricane” Ike Villanueva facing off against Eric “Bloodaxe” Olsen. Calling the June 21 fights will be former UFC play-by-play commentator Mike Goldberg alongside boxing veteran Paulie Malinaggi. Nashville-resident Danielle Moinet, the former “Summer Rae” in WWE, will provide in-ring and backstage interviews.
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