DAYTONA BEACH — Fans watched limbs fly on the floor of the Ocean Center at the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s Blood 4 Blood event on May 6, and that goes for both the boxing and heavy-metal mosh pits.
The unique hybrid featured four bare-knuckle matches separated by brief heavy metal concerts from Slaughter to Prevail, Crowbar, Malevolence, Black Label Society and a pre-show from Chained Saint.
Slaughter to Prevail kicked off the night with a performance led by lead vocalist Aleksandr Shikolay, better known as Alex the Terrible in the bare-knuckle fighting and metal scenes. In a twist fitting for the event, Shikolay boxed professional bull rider Cameron Delano a few hours later in the main event.
Despite being a sizable underdog, it was Delano that took the victory against fan-favorite Alex the Terrible in what turned out to be the longest fight of the night.
Delano knocked Shikolay on his back with a straight right to the nose 15 seconds into the first round. Delano, who was backed against the ropes, barely beat a Shikolay punch that was thrown at him at the exact same time.
Shikolay wasn’t able to beat the 10-second count, and the fight was waved off 29 seconds into the third round.
“Alex is a tough son of a [expletive],” Delano said in his post-fight interview in the ring. “I knew in that third round, we were about to go [expletive] at it, so I appreciate it, I love him for it, and I’m a huge fan.”
The fight between two 1-0-0 fighters ended with Delano keeping his unbeaten record after knocking down Shikolay multiple times over the three rounds. Shikolay fell to 1-1.
Shikolay, who helped organize the event and even fought for free, according to an interview with MMA Fighting, said he broke his nose from Delano’s punch. However, he’ll still be performing with Slaughter to Prevail when the band plays at Rockville on Sunday.
“Of course I’m very sad I lost, it [expletive] sucks,” Shikolay said. “But sometimes shit happens, and I feel sad, but at the same time, I feel so [expletive] happy because we made this, Blood 4 Blood.”
Blood 4 Blood’s debut fight was between Brock Walker and Sergey “Kratos” Kalinin, who helped corner Shikolay against Delano.
For Kalinin, it was also his BKFC debut after spending more than a decade bare-knuckle boxing in Russian promotions, such as Top Dog. Walker also wasn’t a stranger to combat sports as a former amateur MMA fighter dating back to 2012.
The fight hardly lasted a minute, and it was Kalinin that walked away as the victor.
Donning boxing shorts made purely out of animal fur, the fighter listed only as “Kratos” on Blood 4 Blood’s card knocked down Walker four times before earning the TKO in 1:06.
Taylor “Killa Bee” Starling and Sydney Smith, who replaced Marisol Ruelas on a week’s notice, were the first pair to make it out of the first round, although barely.
Starling, the most experienced BKFC fighter on the card with a 5-4 record, dominated the first round with multiple combos that cut Smith’s face. Smith did answer and busted Starling’s nose and gave her a black eye, but the damage was mostly one-sided.
The second round is when Starling ended the bout.
Starling wobbled Smith with an overhand right that wobbled the Charlottesville, Virginia, native before throwing a flurry of punches that earned her the TKO 1:32 into the second round.
Jake Bostwick earned the first true knockout of the night in his co-main event against Roderick Stewart.
Bostwick and Stewart had the most cautious first round of Wednesday night, as both fighters connected on a few punches and briefly met in the clinch. But ultimately damage was negligible and the round could’ve been scored either way.
The second round was similar until Bostwick found an opening. After backing Stewart to the ropes, Bostwick landed a close-range right cross clean on the chin with Stewart’s left arm by his side.
Stewart dropped to a knee and couldn’t return to his feet within 10 seconds to continue the fight.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Cameron Delano upsets Alex the Terrible in BKFC’s Blood 4 Blood
Reporting by Zach Allen, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
