In this Thursday, May 31, 2018 photo, fighter Bobby Gunn, left, and Bryan Pedersen, chairman of the Wyoming State Board of Mixed Martial Arts, speak with reporters during a news conference to promote a bare-knuckle boxing event tha...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. By showcasing professional fighters from a wide array of disciplines, we want to answer the question: Who is the best pure striker on the planet?”

The inaugural event, “BKFC: The Beginning”, will be held at the Cheyenne Ice and Events

 Center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and air throughout the United States and Canada on Pay Per View through Multivision Media, Inc., on all major television and streaming distribution outlets for $29.95. We are excited to work with Mr. Feldman, and the professionalism that he brings to the sport,” said Bryan Pedersen, Chairman of the Wyoming Combat Sports Commission

Among those scheduled to fight on the card at “BKFC: The Beginning” are:

 Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez

 Former IBF Lightweight World Champion Paul Spadafora

 Lineal Bare Knuckle Boxing Heavyweight Champion Bobby Gunn

 Former WEC Middleweight Champion & 12 fight UFC veteran Joe Riggs

 Bellator Heavyweight Tournament Winner & All-Army Boxing Champion Eric Prindle

 Undefeated Heavyweight Professional Boxer Sam Shewmaker

 The card is scheduled to feature additional fight veterans from the UFC, PBC, Bellator, and K1; and with fighters hailing from the US, Canada, Russia, England, and Australia. “You can read about history or you can make history, and we’re going to make history tonight.”

Pedersen, an MMA fighter and former state lawmaker, successfully sponsored a bill in 2012 to create a state board of mixed martial arts — the first state to do so — to provide governance, promote safety and bring a sport he loves to his home state. PRESS RELEASE – Combat sports history will be made in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Saturday, June 2 nd , when the Philadelphia based Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) presents the first legal, regulated, and sanctioned bare knuckle event in the United States since 1889. Bare-knuckle regulations are otherwise similar to those of glove boxing, in that opponents can only throw punches and there's a standing eight count and a three-knockdown rule. (AP) — In 1889, the great John L. Sullivan, the Boston Strong Boy, beat Jake Kilrain in 75 rounds — yes, 75 — in what the International Boxing Hall of Fame has called the "last significant bare-knuckle bout in boxing." The bout drew more than a million viewers, and the promoter of that event and the Wyoming one, David Feldman, realized there was a hungry market for bare-knuckle fights within the combat sports fanbase. Pedersen sees advantages for the state of Wyoming as well: "I see the whole thing as a giant economic possibility for diversity in our state and to really help promote the Cowboy State and our strong sense of Western independence."
The first legal bare-knuckle boxing match in U.S. history, titled the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships, takes place in Cheyenne, Wyoming.