Ken Shamrock’s bare-knuckle boxing promotion is again on observe.
The MMA pioneer’s Valor Naked Knuckle returns Friday with VBK 2, which takes place on the College of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla. The occasion is Valor’s first present since its 2019 debut, a hiatus triggered by the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown.
Regardless of seeing the promotion’s momentum sputter amid the pandemic, Shamrock informed MMA Preventing he and his group by no means thought of shutting it down for good.
“By no means, ever, ever thought we weren’t coming again,” Shamrock stated. “By no means. We had been all the time working behind the scenes, constructing construction inside our enterprise whereas creating apps via which we might stream our fights. There’s lots of stuff that we’ve been doing. Clearly, in my thoughts, experiencing the fan base, even experiencing early on after I was simply combating behind bars, not lots of people there, it’s simply not the identical in case you don’t have a fan base and your corporation is on the market giving followers one thing they wish to see.”
“We waited for a time to come back again,” he continued. “Clearly, that is struggle the place there’s lots of followers going to Florida that weekend with the Florida-Georgia sport. I believe it’s an incredible alternative for those that are there to have an incredible weekend, come out and watch the fights on weekend, go watch Florida-Georgia school soccer on Saturday, after which to shut all of it off, Sunday NFL soccer. So it’s an incredible weekend. I do know that’s what I’m doing. However yeah, once they come out and take a look at the ring units, the belts, Oct. 27 on the UNF Area in Jacksonville, we’re going to have some nice fights, and there’s going to be some enjoyable that evening.”
Contemplating how the aftermath of VBK 1 went, Shamrock was due for a little bit of luck. He hopes that the second occasion advantages from a serious sports activities weekend in Jacksonville. His group initially thought of transferring away from the crowded slate when the schedule materialized, however they later determined it was a blessing and never a curse.
Plans ended up altering anyway with one fighter bowing out of Friday’s primary occasion. Lavar Johnson was initially scheduled to struggle Mark Godbeer, however MMA lifer Travis Wiuff stepped in for Godbeer to face his fellow cagefighting veteran.
This can be a large alternative for Johnson, who lived as much as his popularity as a knockout artist at VBK1 with a 27-second drubbing of James McSweeney. He’s now poised to be one of many names the promotion can construct round.
“To start with, he’s only a nice particular person,” Shamrock stated of Johnson. “A man who’s overcome adversity. He went via some exhausting occasions early on, identical to myself, I went via some actually robust occasions. To have the ability to see any individual be capable to change their life and be capable to get again heading in the right direction once more can be all the time golden. You like to see that, however I believe as a fighter I simply love how he really carries himself. He’s respectful, however he’s harmful, and he has completely no ideas about getting in there and simply knocking the p*** out of you. However outdoors the ring, he’s an absolute gentleman, so I actually like that about him.
“However once more, I inform individuals, don’t look previous this as a result of this man’s a beast. He could also be just a little bit older, however this man’s obtained energy, and he touches you, you’re doing down.”
Johnson’s punching energy has all the time been revered, with 17 of his 18 MMA wins coming by means of knockout, together with memorable first-round finishes of Pat Barry and Joey Beltran. He confirmed little in the best way of an all-around sport, which put a transparent ceiling on his combating profession. However he seemed like a pure match for the world of bare-knuckle boxing when he debuted in opposition to McSweeney.
Shamrock agreed with the suggestion that Johnson, who beforehand competed for Bellator and UFC, might need develop into a much bigger star if he’d had the choice of doing bare-knuckle.
“Completely,” Shamrock stated. “I believe there’s lots of guys you see, simply common boxers, that haven’t actually been capable of do effectively, they’re common in there, however they’ve this knockout energy. … There’s guys like myself, guys which have that beast mode and energy and also you actually simply destroyed somebody, however as a result of they landed extra punches, they get the win. That energy actually modifications all the pieces for the bigger guys which might be the true beasts.”
A veteran of 101 documented MMA fights, Wiuff is completely poised to play the spoiler in opposition to Johnson. “Diesel” has seen all of it in his fight sports activities profession, having fought his approach throughout the U.S. for the previous 22 years. Shamrock warns Wiuff is unquestionably to not be underestimated.
“He’s sensible,” Shamrock stated. “He is aware of when to show it on, when to not flip it on. He is aware of when to maneuver, and he’s a wise fighter. He has lots of instruments to carry out in opposition to Lavar and he’s going to must, as a result of I believe Lavar is simply going to be going for that knockout. If he doesn’t, Travis is able to doing it.
“Simply having the ability to transfer and arrange his punches, it might be an issue for Lavar as a result of Lavar isn’t that skilled relating to that motion. He’s extra of that simple, large punches. So if Travis comes out and fights sensible, that is going to be a really, excellent struggle.”
Tickets are available now for VBK 2 and a dwell stream airs Friday on the Valor BK official website (free subscription required) starting at at 7 p.m. ET.
