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Bare knuckle boxing makes Tennessee debut in Nashville

Blood soaked the canvas of the three-sided ring within The Pinnacle in Nashville following nine high-action bare knuckle boxing fights on June 21, the first to ever be sanctioned in Tennessee. A spirited crowd filled the room to witness history, as BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing became the first to put on a professional bare knuckle fight card since the Tennessee Athletic Commission (TAC) approved unified rules for the sport in March. Advertisement 'We are waiting patiently as states become more interested in bringing bare knuckle, so Tennessee was always a state (and) Nashville in particular was a place that we had our eye on, because we just felt that they had fight fans here and they just really were a little bit starved for a good event,' BKB CEO Greg Bloom said. 'So we're happy to bring it to town.' MORE: Derrick Lewis planning Broadway celebration ahead of UFC fight in Nashville As bare knuckle boxing has grown in popularity in recent years, so has new opportunity for fighters looking to make a name in an ever-growing combat sports landscape. Caleb Austin and Devin Wallace, each fighting out of Wildside Combat Sports in Clarksville, made their bare knuckle debuts on the card, while former UFC fighter Ike Villanueva has carved a new path outside of mixed martial arts with BKB. Advertisement 'It was an honor to come here and put on a great show in the first card here," Villanueva said after a first-round TKO win. "I'm (on a) high right now because it is a lot of hard work I put in to get this ... "Being a former UFC star coming here and making a name, this is my house … with BKB we started in gymnasiums, now we're here in The Pinnacle. Beautiful arena, I love it here and this is the place for it to be.' How bare knuckle boxing came to Tennessee With professional bare knuckle boxing increasing in profile, so have nationwide discussions regarding the sanctioning of the sport. Those discussions began in Tennessee three years ago; at the time, the TAC was not ready to move forward with official sanctioning. Advertisement And while bare knuckle boxing has drawn its fair share of criticism in regard to fighter safety, Bloom says the bloody nature of the sport is misleading when compared to the actual effects it has on the brain. "There are two major companies that do bare knuckle fights, and both of them have done a study from fight one until these fights tonight of every single fight that's happened," Bloom said. "And the medical data has shown out that bare knuckle fighting is five times less traumatically injurious than MMA and four times less than boxing. Those are the facts." Sanctioning discussions reemerged in July 2024 when the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC), of which the TAC is a member, approved a unified set of rules for bare knuckle boxing. Tennessee's athletic commission reviewed and ultimately implemented the unified rules in its decision to sanction the sport. Following a rulemaking hearing the rules went into effect on March 5. Lowrawnt T 'Smash' Nelson gestures to the crowd after winning during the BKB super middleweight championship fight against Sam Liera at The Pinnacle in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, June 21, 2025. MORE: Former heavyweight champ Oliver McCall fights to draw at Country Box event in Nashville Advertisement BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing was quick to capitalize upon the sport's official sanctioning in Tennessee, looking to provide Nashville fight fans with their first taste of action in its patented trigon ring, with seven current or former BKB champions on the card. 'I think there's a very rich fight fan base here in Nashville, so we're happy to expose them to something new and again, hopefully they find it more exciting than what's coming to town," Bloom said. "And next time we come, we'll do it bigger and better.' Bloom isn't the only one who's eyeing a future BKB event in Nashville. Two-division BKB champion Lorawnt-T Nelson avenged his lone career loss in the main event with a first-round stoppage of Sam Liera, and he hopes it won't be his last title defense in Tennessee. 'It's amazing man, especially out here in Nashville, Tennessee, baby," Nelson said. "Music City, it's fun. I've been walking around, enjoying the food, enjoying the people and this is a great spot. Hopefully we can come back here again.' Advertisement Harrison Campbell covers boxing for The Tennessean and high school sports for The Daily Herald. Email him at hcampbell@ and follow him on Twitter @hccamp. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee hosts professional bare knuckle boxing for first time