Kai Stewart came out victorious on April 5 when he faced Tommy Strydom in the main event of BKFC 72 in Dubai, UAE. The featherweight champion from Liberal, KS claimed the win, defeating the previously unbeaten contender from South Africa by unanimous decision. All three judges scored the five-round fight 50-43.
With the victory, Stewart improved to 8-0 and made the fourth successful defense of his belt. Tommy Strydom dropped to 4-1 and suffered his first defeat.
“I’m going to do whatever I want to do,” Kai Stewart said. “I cleaned out the 145-pound division. I break everybody!”
Jessica Borga KO’s Hannah Rankin in 32 seconds to claim inaugural belt
Jessica Borga (3-0) of Lakeland, FL was on top, stopping former WBA super welterweight champion Hannah Rankin (1-1) of Scotland in 32 seconds with a flurry of punches. With the victory by knockout, Borga won the inaugural BKFC women’s featherweight title.
“I’m the one and only Jessica Borga, and I’m only getting more dangerous. I don’t care who you are; send me anybody,” Jessica Borga said. “I’m here to stay, baby.”
In other BKFC 72 Dubai action
Among other BKFC 72 results, Nico Gaffie (2-0) of Spain defeated Brandon Allen (5-2) of Tampa, FL by TKO at featherweight. The time was 1:59 into the fourth round. On his way to victory, Gaffie sent Allen to the canvas four times.
Vladislav Tuinov (1-0) stopped fellow newcomer Sabri Ben Henia (0-1) of Tunis in 26 seconds at welterweight. John Phillips (1-0) of Wales dropped Fabio Maldonado (0-1) of Brazil twice and stopped him in 29 seconds in their debuts at cruiserweight.
Aaron Chalmers (1-0) sent fellow Englishman Chas Symonds (0-2) to the canvas two times on his way to victory by TKO. The fight was halted 16 seconds into the third round.
Germany-based Hassan Yousefi (1-0) of Iran defeated fellow newcomer Guto Inocente (0-1) of Brazil by unanimous decision. After five rounds at heavyweight, the scores were 50-45, 50-45, and 49-46.
Among the prelims, Mark Angel Sadang (1-0) of the Philippines dropped and stopped Matin Safari (0-1) of Iran in the first round at lightweight. Dilshat Nurym (1-0) of Kazakhstan eliminated Shamil Dzhakhbarov (0-1) in the first round at featherweight, also twice sending his opponent to the canvas along the way.
BKFC 72: Stewart vs Strydom was the second of two back-to-back bare-knuckle boxing fight cards held at Dubai Boxing Stadium, marking the promotion’s debut in the UAE. The first card, BKFC 71, was held a day earlier, featuring Austin Trout and Britain Hart retaining their titles against Carlos Trinidad-Snake and Tai Emery, respectively.