Knucklemania 2: Luis Palomino dominates Martin Brown to retain title

Luis Palomino is barely scratched during his dominating BKFC lightweight title defense against Martin Brown at Knucklemania 2.

Knucklemania is the biggest event of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s calendar year, utilizing the huge names on their roster to draw as many eyes as possible to their product. In the main card, that resulted in bringing in Chad Mendez and Mike Perry for name recognition and star power. Normally this would also mean putting the biggest possible names in the final bout of the night.

However, BKFC thought it would be just as meaningful to put their top champion in a bout with an unranked fighter and see what would happen.

Luis Palomino, BKFC’s undefeated lightweight champion, ran circles around the challenging Martin Brown, looking much faster, much stronger, and more skillful while doing it. After five rounds, Palomino had barely been touched by his opponent, and it reflected on the scorecards. Due to an extremely inactive fifth, Palomino would not sweep every round on all of the cards, but winning four rounds to two judges and all five to another is just as dominant.

Palomino immediately called out his next opponent after the bout

Palomino is no stranger to calling out potential opponents, actually calling out Jorge Masvidal and Chad Mendez in 2021. His call-out at the end of Knucklemania 2, however, felt more personal than his previous calls.

Palomino chose the current BKFC middleweight champion, Thiago Alves, as his target after his victory. Palomino directly addressed Alves’ critiques of him, finding a particular problem with him describing Palomino as a “bully.” The lightweight champ called for Alves to be his next opponent and called his spot: the main event bout in Peru.

The win in the main event pushes Palomino to an impressive 6-0, with four straight successful title defenses. If he is able to defeat Alves for the middleweight title, he will become the first dual champion in BKFC history.

MAIN CARD (BKTV App/Fite TV)

• Luis Palomino def. Martin Brown via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45) – for lightweight title
• Mike Perry def. Julian Lane via unanimous decision (48-46, 48-46, 48-46)
• Chad Mendes def. Joshuah Alvarez via TKO (punches) – Round 4, 1:34
• Christine Ferea def. Britain Beltran via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) – for vacant flyweight title
• Gustavo Trujillo def. Stephen Townsel via knockout – Round 1, 1:41
• Christine Vicens def. Jade Masson-Wong via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) – Round 3, 0:49
• Francesco Ricchi def. Jake Bostwich via unanimous decision (48-44, 48-44, 48-44)
• Ulysses Diaz def. Sawyer Depee via knockout – Round 2, 1:00

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Edgard Plazaola def. Chevvy Bridges via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 1:09
• Yosdenis Cedeno def. Mario Vargas via unanimous decision (48-45, 49-44, 47-46)
• Jomi Escoboza def. Zion Tomlinson via knockout – Round 4, 1:16