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BKFC’s biggest winners from KnuckleMania 5 might be on their way out.
This past Saturday was a big night for the world’s premier bare-knuckle boxing promotion. Inside a sold-out Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, BKFC delivered a violent night of action capped by big knockout wins for UFC veterans Jeremy Stephens and Ben Rothwell. But despite the event’s success, headliner Stephens and new BKFC heavyweight champion Rothwell can now test the waters as combat sports free agents, the duo both told Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show” on Monday.
Stephens, in particular, was fired up when he revealed the news.
“I’m a prizefighter. I just signed a [one-fight] contract [this past] Thursday. This is life right now,” he said.
“I have no restrictions. No one can take my f***ing freedom of speech. I’m my own man, dude. I’m talking for myself. I have no contract. With BKFC, my promoters were against me. [BKFC founder Dave Feldman] just called me. I don’t have a contract with them. He was betting against me. He just told me that he thought Eddie [Alvarez] was going to win, bro. You paid the wrong f***ing man.”
Stephens, 38, played spoiler in Saturday’s main event. Matched against Philadelphia legend and former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, Stephens scored a brutal stoppage win, breaking Alvarez’s jaw and extending his own perfect BKFC record to 3-0.
In the co-headliner, Rothwell, 43, finally captured the BKFC heavyweight title, which he’d been in hot pursuit of since debuting in late 2022. Rothwell needed only 36 seconds to violently finish the now-former champ, Mick Terrill. While Rothwell is more than happy to return and defend his title, he’s excited to have the ability to chase big boxing matches with names like Francis Ngannou or Anthony Joshua.
If Rothwell remains in the BKFC ring, he wants a rematch of his unanimous decision loss to Mark Hunt from UFC 135.
“I very much love the BKFC,” Rothwell said. “I love David Feldman, and I would like to continue and even finish my career [here]. How much time do I got? I don’t know, maybe a year or so, it really depends. But Francis Ngannou, Anthony Joshua, guys that beat them guys — any of those [are who I want to fight]. To put gloves on and prove how good at boxing I am would kind of be like a bucket list [thing]. I just don’t feel like I got to show the boxing world how good of a boxer I really am right now. Even the BKFC fans, UFC fans, they just say I’m a brawler. They don’t understand my precision. They don’t understand how capable I truly am. But if I got to fight one of them, I think that would be a huge opportunity for me to show the world how good I really am.
“Before I’m done fighting, I want to bring the most amount of respect to this [BKFC] belt as I can. Beating someone in front of 17,000 people [on Saturday], this belt is getting elevated. But I need some names like that, I need to beat some guys like that. I think that’ll really prove to the world just how good I really am. So if I just have to step away [from BKFC] for a fight or something to get some of those guys, I think the BKFC would back me.
“Hunt [is] on the table, too,” Rothwell added. “So, that’s another name I think could bring more respect. I don’t want to fight nobodies. I want to fight the guys that are going to help us elevate this. So give me the big names, give me some big paychecks. I’ll get it done.”
Rothwell, like Stephens, kept his undefeated BKFC record intact with his win, moving to 4-0 with all but one of his bare-knuckle performances ending in the first round.
As MMA veterans, the duo of Stephens and Rothwell carry more than 50 professional fights under their belts. Large portions of their careers took place in the UFC directly before their respective transitions to gloveless combat, though Stephens enjoyed a brief stint in the PFL before taking some boxing matches and joining BKFC.
MMA’s newest organization, the Global Fight League, is also set to arrive this April, and Stephens was originally among the names selected with GFL’s fighter “draft” that aired live this past Friday. Despite “Lil Heathen” already being scheduled to fight Alvarez at the time, he was also announced to be part of GFL’s Miami team.
According to Stephens, GFL’s contract offer was more lucrative than what he earned at BKFC KnuckleMania 5.
“Bet on myself. GFL, they paid me bigger money than what I just made, and I didn’t sign the contract,” Stephens said. “I’ll honor it, but I didn’t sign that contract because I was betting on myself this fight. This is what I’m doing it for. I took a f***ing risk.
“No one’s paying my f***ing bills out here. I’ve had to earn every step of the way. This couldn’t be better timing. I didn’t sign the [BKFC] contract, I want more money. You guys got to f***ing pay me now. I’m tired of doing s*** for f***ing cheap or free. I’m still willing to go back to UFC, where they were willing to sign me for one, two [more fights]. You want to go to bare-knuckle, I’ll f***ing break and murder a man in that ring. This is my life. I’m betting on me and I took a huge risk.”
From Rothwell’s seat, the GFL option is similar to what he’s seen before in the old International Fight League days. As a former staple of the now-defunct promotion, Rothwell experienced how the team MMA concept caught on and sees similarities between the two business models, but is unsure whether it can be successfully reproduced at this point.
But either way, the new BKFC champ believes he’s in a good spot with the promotion’s support — perhaps unlike Stephens. Ultimately, Rothwell is open to everything in the future, including the GFL or BKFC’s planned $25 million tournament.
“For what I was told, Dave Feldman was prepared for me to win,” Rothwell said. “And he wanted to do something good for me for winning the belt. So I think he’s prepared to make [the offer] good, and let me help him carry the company and continue to beat some of these major guys and elevate the sport. Maybe bring this to Wisconsin, maybe an event this summer because Wisconsin is ready to legalize it.
“At the end of the day, I’m a prizefighter, so if [GFL] wants to throw me a prize. I’ll make the weight. Bare-knuckle is something I feel like I’ve naturally gotten awesome at, like, I think I’ve proven I’m the best in the world. There’s that $25 million tournament going on. I’m confident I’m going to win it.”