Where Are They Now: The Original BKFC Fighters from 2018
On June 2, 2018, inside a converted arena in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship staged BKFC 1: The Beginning. It was the first legal, sanctioned bare knuckle fighting event in the United States since 1889 -- a gap of 129 years. The fighters who stepped into the squared circle that night were walking into completely uncharted territory.
There was no playbook. No bare knuckle training camp methodology. No established career path. These fighters were guinea pigs, testing their bodies against a format that most athletic commissions had considered too dangerous to sanction just a few years earlier. They wrapped their wrists, left their knuckles exposed, and threw punches at one another's ungloved faces to find out what would happen.
What happened was a sport. And the fighters who made it happen deserve to be remembered. This is where they are now.
Bobby Gunn: The Underground King Who Threw the First Legal Punch
Bobby Gunn holds a distinction that can never be taken from him: he won the first fight in modern BKFC history. On that night in Cheyenne, Gunn knocked out Irineu Beato Costa Jr. in the first round, writing the opening line of what would become the biggest bare knuckle promotion in the world.
But Gunn was already a legend before he set foot in the BKFC ring. A professional boxer by trade with a respectable record in the sanctioned ring, Gunn's real mythology came from the underground. He claimed a perfect 73-0 record in unsanctioned bare knuckle fights -- a number that is impossible to independently verify but that speaks to the man's standing in the bare knuckle community. Gunn was the kind of fighter whose reputation preceded him into every room, and that reputation was built on decades of fighting in formats that no commission oversaw.
As of 2026, Gunn is in his late 40s and has largely stepped back from active competition. His body carried the toll of decades of fighting -- sanctioned and unsanctioned -- and the transition from active fighter to elder statesman was inevitable. But Gunn remains a respected figure in the bare knuckle world, a living link between the underground traditions of bare knuckle boxing and the modern, regulated version that BKFC represents.
He threw the first legal bare knuckle punch in 129 years. That is a line in the history books that will never be erased.
Sam "Hillbilly Hammer" Shewmaker: The BKFC Original Who Keeps Coming Back
If Bobby Gunn was the legend who legitimized BKFC's first event, Sam Shewmaker was the homegrown fighter who became the promotion's first organic star. Also debuting at BKFC 1, Shewmaker brought a blue-collar, no-nonsense fighting style that resonated with the bare knuckle audience. Known as the "Hillbilly Hammer," he is one of the rare fighters who built his entire competitive identity within the bare knuckle format rather than crossing over from MMA or boxing.
Shewmaker became one of BKFC's most recognizable heavyweight fighters, known for his toughness, his willingness to walk through punishment, and his crowd-pleasing style. He was not always the most technically polished fighter on the card, but he was frequently the most entertaining, and in a sport built on visceral appeal, that counts for a great deal.
After a nearly two-year absence from competition, Shewmaker returned to the BKFC squared circle in 2025, earning a unanimous decision over Josh Burns in their rematch at BKFC 63 in Sturgis, South Dakota. The win demonstrated that the Hillbilly Hammer still had gas in the tank and that the promotion valued his presence enough to bring him back.
BKFC has signaled plans to keep Shewmaker active, and the fighter himself appears motivated to make up for the time he lost. At a point in his career where many fighters would have quietly retired, Shewmaker is choosing to fight on -- a decision that speaks to both his love of the sport and the unique career that bare knuckle fighting has given him.
Bec Rawlings: The Woman Who Made Bare Knuckle Legitimate for Female Fighters
Bec Rawlings was not on the BKFC 1 card, but she was present at the second event, BKFC 2, in August 2018, where she won the first women's bare knuckle fight in modern U.S. history. That distinction places her alongside Bobby Gunn as one of the foundational figures of the BKFC era.
Rawlings brought UFC experience and name recognition to bare knuckle fighting. A former UFC strawweight, she had competed on The Ultimate Fighter: Nations and built a professional MMA career before making the transition. Her willingness to fight without gloves lent credibility to the bare knuckle format and opened the door for an entire women's division that has since produced stars like Christine Ferea and Britain Hart.
Rawlings has continued to compete in BKFC, maintaining an active career that now spans over seven years in the bare knuckle format. At KnuckleMania V in January 2025, she defeated Taylor Starling by dominant unanimous decision (50-44, 49-45, 50-44), demonstrating that she remains a force in the women's division. Her longevity in a sport that destroys bodies and careers in equal measure is one of bare knuckle fighting's most underappreciated achievements.
The Early Card Fighters: Where Did They Go?
Beyond the headline names, the early BKFC cards were populated by fighters whose names have largely faded from the conversation. These were the men and women who filled out the undercards at BKFC 1, 2, and 3 -- regional boxers, MMA journeymen, toughman competitors, and a few genuine unknowns who simply wanted to test themselves in the rawest possible format.
Some of these fighters competed once or twice and never returned. The bare knuckle format is unforgiving. Broken hands are common. Facial lacerations are expected. The recovery time between fights can be significantly longer than in gloved boxing or MMA, and the financial incentives at the early BKFC events were modest. For fighters who were not deeply committed to the sport, one taste was enough.
Others discovered that bare knuckle fighting suited their skills in ways that gloved combat did not. Fighters with heavy hands and iron chins -- the kind of physical tools that are valuable in any combat sport but are especially decisive without gloves -- found that BKFC rewarded their natural attributes more than any other promotion could.
The Evolution from BKFC 1 to KnuckleMania
The contrast between BKFC 1 in Cheyenne and KnuckleMania VI in Philadelphia tells the entire story of what the early fighters helped build. The first event was held in a modest venue in Wyoming, with limited pay-per-view distribution and a roster of fighters who were largely unknown to the mainstream combat sports audience. KnuckleMania VI sold out an 18,000-seat arena and featured former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski winning the BKFC heavyweight title.
Between those two points, BKFC grew from a curiosity into the largest bare knuckle fighting organization in the world. Conor McGregor became a minority owner. A $25 million World's Baddest Man tournament was announced. Champions like Mike Perry, Austin Trout, Christine Ferea, and Lorenzo Hunt became legitimate combat sports stars.
None of that happens without BKFC 1. And BKFC 1 does not happen without the fighters who were willing to show up in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and throw bare knuckle punches when no one knew if the sport had a future.
The Hands That Built the Foundation
The physical toll of early bare knuckle fighting cannot be overstated. The fighters who competed at the first BKFC events did so without the benefit of the medical protocols, training methodologies, and hand-wrapping techniques that have since been developed. They were learning in real time, and the lessons were written in broken metacarpals and split knuckles.
Hand injuries plagued the early events. Fighters who were accustomed to the protection of boxing gloves or MMA gloves found that bare knuckle striking demanded entirely different mechanics. The punch selection, the targeting, the angles of impact -- everything had to be recalibrated. Fighters who punched to the forehead with gloves could get away with it. Fighters who punched to the forehead with bare knuckles broke their hands.
The training camps that support BKFC fighters in 2026 have absorbed these lessons. Coaches now teach bare knuckle-specific striking technique, emphasizing palm-side contact, body shots, and targeting the softer areas of the face. But the early fighters did not have access to this knowledge. They discovered it the hard way.
What the Pioneers Deserve
Bobby Gunn, Sam Shewmaker, Bec Rawlings, and the dozens of other fighters who competed at the first BKFC events were not guaranteed glory. They were not promised that the sport would survive. They fought because they were fighters, and fighters fight.
The sport did survive. It thrived. And every sold-out arena, every pay-per-view broadcast, and every championship belt that BKFC awards in 2026 traces its legitimacy back to the fighters who showed up in Cheyenne in June 2018 and proved that bare knuckle fighting could be sanctioned, regulated, and compelling.
Some of those pioneers are still competing. Sam Shewmaker is back in the ring. Bec Rawlings is still winning fights. Bobby Gunn has hung up his wraps but remains a part of the community. Others have moved on entirely, their bare knuckle careers reduced to a few lines on fight databases and a handful of YouTube clips.
Wherever they are, they can claim something that the current generation of BKFC stars cannot: they were there first. In a sport with roots stretching back centuries, being the first to do it legally in the modern era is its own kind of immortality.
For a complete history of BKFC's flagship event, see KnuckleMania: The Complete History. For more on the current state of bare knuckle fighting, read our BKFC Major Events guide.