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Kai Stewart embracing 'Bad Guy' persona ahead of Fenway Park BKFC title fight

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Kai Stewart embracing 'Bad Guy' persona ahead of Fenway Park BKFC title fight

Bare Knuckle FC featherweight champ Kai Stewart is expecting a cold reception from the Fenway Park crowd in his upcoming title defense.

Bare Knuckle FC 92 will be a history-making night for bare-knuckle fighting as some of the toughest combatants prepare to fight on the sacred grounds of Fenway Park in Boston. Despite entering BKFC 92 as the headlining champion, featherweight titleholder Kai Stewart will enter hostile territory against Massachusetts native Harry Gigliotti.

Stewart, one of the best pound-for-pound bare-knuckle fighters in the world, is also one of the polarizing sport's brightest young stars. The 26-year-old seldom puts out sluggish performances during his nine-fight unbeaten streak to begin his career.

Despite his status as one of BKFC's biggest stars, Stewart knows he's entering uncharted waters at BKFC 92 in Gigliotti's homecoming. For Stewart, he says he's embracing the pressure head-on as he plans to play the ‘heel' role.

Kai Stewart promises to spoil opponent's homecoming in BKFC title fight

During the latest episode of BetOnline‘s The Fight Guys podcast, Stewart promised to steal the spotlight in Boston this week before entering the BKFC ring.

“My biggest ‘claim to fame' was walking into Miami to the Cuban's hometown…we broke records, and I was in there flippin' everybody off,†Stewart began.

“I love being the heel, the bad guy. At the end of the day, I'm not friends with these guys – I'm going in there to fight. There's no place to be a ‘good guy' in fighting, especially in bare-knuckle. Now's the time when I'm going to be Boston's enemy number one after that press conference. I hope they have a second one, so I can talk even more. I have them firing in the chamber for everybody…

“Nobody's safe.â€

Stewart doesn't just hold beefs with BKFC fighters. Ahead of UFC bantamweight contender Aiemann Zahabi's fight at UFC Freedom 250, Stewart feuded with former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley in social media back-and-forths.

Subscribe to The Fight Guys on YouTube here. 

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


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Anthony Hernandez accuses Gregory Rodrigues of ‘cheating’ at UFC Sacramento

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Anthony Hernandez accuses Gregory Rodrigues of ‘cheating’ at UFC Sacramento
Anthony
Hernandez is now on a two-fight skid in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship and he's accused his latest
opponent, Gregory
Rodrigues, of “cheating.â€

Rodrigues beat Hernandez by unanimous decision in a grueling
five-round bout at
UFC Sacramento. Both middleweights earned Fight of the Night
honors, but “Fluffy†has since accused Rodrigues of grabbing his
gloves during their grappling exchanges.

Hernandez claims Rodrigues repeatedly grabbed inside his gloves
during their Fight of the Night

While Hernandez praised “Robocop†for his toughness, he also
accused Rodrigues of grabbing his gloves as many as four times
during their fight to gain an advantage.

“I hit him a few times, I rocked his sh*t, he's a tough son of a
b*tch,†Hernandez said at the post-fight press conference. “I hit
him with everything and the kitchen sink, hit him with some hard
elbows, f*cker was cheating and grabbing the inside of my gloves
and I told [referee] Herb [Dean] that.â€

Hernandez even claims Rodrigues was warned after the alleged
infractions.

“I told f*cking Herb, ‘This motherf*cker grabbed my glove, like,
four times. Hey, he's grabbing my gloves,' and he told him, ‘Hey,
stop,'†Hernandez said. “But I mean, whatever. Don't take a point,
whatever. I guess people like to cheat, so it is what it is.â€

Rodrigues extended his win streak to four and called out Dricus Du
Plessis in his post-fight interview, while Hernandez will have
to regroup after picking up his second defeat.


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Anthony Hernandez earned a lot of respect at UFC Sacramento, says Dana White

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Anthony Hernandez earned a lot of respect at UFC Sacramento, says Dana White

UFC boss Dana White has praised Anthony Hernandez despite his recent defeat at UFC Sacramento last weekend.

In the main event of UFC Sacramento, Anthony Hernandez wasn't able to get himself back in the win column as he fell to a defeat against Gregory Rodrigues. It was a back and forth encounter, but it was evident quite early on that Hernandez was struggling with the leg kicks being thrown his way.

RELATED: Anthony Hernandez lauds ‘tough' Gregory Rodrigues but accuses him of cheating: “Maybe I should be more dirtyâ€

Despite that, he was able to fight through the pain, showing a great deal of heart to hang in there with Rodrigues, who would eventually go on to secure the victory.

In the post-fight press conference, however, Dana White was quick to praise Hernandez despite the loss.

White praises Hernandez after UFC Sacramento

“Tonight, his leg got busted up,†White said at the UFC Fight Night 285 post-fight press conference. “Realistically, most normal guys, that fight probably would have been over in the second round. But again, I think the crowd was firing him up tonight, and he showed a ton of heart, and this is one of those fights – especially in your home state, your hometown – you gain so much respect. You didn't win the fight, but you gained a lot of respect.â€

“The crowd was literally amazing here tonight,†White said. “It was absolutely awesome. There's a lot of spots that we've got to hit. COVID, we're still sort of recovering from that. There's a lot of places we haven't been. And I mean, Philly was just incredible last weekend, too. We haven't been there in a long time. But, yeah, Sacramento's fun, and it's a nice flight for us from Vegas, too.â€

Quotes via MMA Junkie

What do you believe the future holds for Anthony Hernandez? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, BJPENN Nation!

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


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Dana White: Heavyweight division on the rise after becoming ‘a little stale’

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Dana White: Heavyweight division on the rise after becoming ‘a little stale’

Dana White thinks heavyweight could be in a good place sooner rather than later.

Long one of the marquee divisions in combat sports, the UFC's heavyweight roster has fallen on hard times in recent years due to a dearth of promising talent, veterans aging out of contention, and even the very top of the division stuck in limbo due to undisputed champion Tom Aspinall being sidelined since this past October due to eye injuries suffered in his fight with Ciryl Gane that ended in a no-contest.

A handful of intriguing big men have stepped forward to make a name for themselves, including Josh Hokit, Valter Walker, Rizvan Kuniev, and NCAA wrestling star Gable Steveson, and according to White, it's not a coincidence that the fans have been noticing an influx of talent.

“We agree,†White said at the UFC Sacramento post-fight press conference when asked if he felt the heavyweight roster was improving. “We've got a lot of divisions that are shaking up right now and getting fun.

“The boys have been working hard on a few of the different divisions that we thought were a little stale, I'll say.â€

There were three heavyweight bouts on Saturday's UFC Sacramento lineup, and each showed promise in one way or another. Vitor Petrino's win over Serghei Spivac didn't electrify the crowd, but it did establish a new top 10 contender with Petrino improving to 4-0 after moving up from light heavyweight. Shamil Gaziev had one of the best knockouts of the night, needing one punch to drop a defensively suspect Kennedy Nzechuwku.

And then there was the debuting Anthony Wint, a former pro football player just beginning his MMA journey. The hulking Wint scored a first-round submission of Terrance Chatman to improve to 8-0 as a pro. Even more impressive, he did this less than two weeks after earning a contract on Dana White's Contender Series.

“Eleven days,†White said. “Yeah, I love guys that—You know, if you look at what the Contender Series has done for the UFC, and for the business, and when you have these guys who come in and make a big impact and then want to turn right around and fight. I mean, look at Khamzat Chimaev on Fight Island, he's like, ‘I want to fight again next weekend.' Tell me you want to fight again next weekend, you're fighting next weekend. I love it and it's the right thing to do.

“First of all, if you're a fighter, more people know who you are, your name gets out there faster, more people are talking about you on Sunday and Monday and you make more money. I mean, it's a no-brainer. I'd love to see more guys do it.â€

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