Earlier this afternoon Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship held a press conference at American Top Team’s flagship school in Coconut Creek Florida. The purpose of this press event was to introduce publicly to the combat sports community for the very 1st time under the BKFC banner Thiago Alves and newly signed Paige Van Zant.
We here at Cage Side with Christopher James were in attendance in the front row for very interesting press conference.
Many questions were asked and answered by the panel at the dais from the assembled media. I could break down every question here, however, I did share a video of my live stream which might have been choppy, but I’m also including the BKFC copy of the event.
The biggest fireworks of the day which I will share here took place after the official press conference was over and the impromptu face-to-face between reigning 155-pound champion Luis Palomino and undefeated BKFC fighter Jim Alers who were in attendance, began.
These 2 former friends and teammates wasted no time getting into it. Palomino calling out Alers for not showing up to fight him on July 24th at BKFC11. Alers did have a good reason not to be there, but Palomino wasn’t buying any of it. Alers also took some shots at the champ saying “I’m in your head living rent-free, I mean when does a champion callout the challenger after just winning the belt? Unless they feel that they don’t feel like the champion until they beat the person they’re calling out! ”
Both men were carrying BKFC belts over their shoulders. Palomino has the promotional belt and Alers does have a BKFC belt but it is not an official championship belt. Alers referred to Palomino’s title as nothing but a paper championship saying “Until you fight me you know you’re not the champ!”
They were nose to nose bumping gums, and doing a little body bumping and then Palomino head-butted Alers, And the fun really began!
Yours truly, who seems to have a knack for ending up in the middle of confrontations like this was front and center getting it all on film, and trying to help keep these guys apart. Nobody needs them to beat the crap out of each other at a press conference or members of their respective teams getting into it either.
As always BKFC continues to push forward at a time when most of the world is stagnant or going backwards. Always a good time covering one of their press conference today was definitely a hoot!
Enjoy the video.
https://youtu.be/wf1s0Le_9-U
Christopher James has been in the MMA industry for 15 years, Working as a ring announcer for promotions like the XFC, Island Fights, Combat Night and Fight Nights Global during his career. Chris’ love for the sport and the athletes that partake in it led him to writing and doing face to face interviews with the athletes he admired and respected. Chris isn’t conventional by any stretch of the imagination, he has his own style, and takes pride in not being a “cookie-cutter” member of the media. Unique and sometimes controversial takes are what he brings to the table, forcing folks to think a little differently about the world of MMA. He also has a love for music as he has been a dj for 25 years and his love for music gets brought to the MMA world when he gets his guests to sing on his weekly show Cage Side with Christopher James which can be seen Wednesday nights on FACEBOOK LIVE, and soon via podcast.