Where Are They Now: Women Who Pioneered Underground Fighting
Underground fighting has always been coded as male. The backyards, the warehouses, the parking lots, the sand circles -- these spaces were built by men, for men, and marketed to male audiences. The fighters were men. The promoters were men. The cameras were held by men. Women, when they appeared at all, were spectators, ring card holders, or the concerned partners waiting at home.
Then women started fighting. Not in the sanitized, carefully marketed way that the UFC eventually packaged women's MMA, but in the same raw, unsanctioned, unprotected spaces that male underground fighters had been occupying for decades. They fought bare knuckle. They fought in backyards. They fought in the same warehouse rings and outdoor circles that their male counterparts fought in, with the same absence of safety nets and the same presence of risk.
The women who pioneered underground fighting did not just compete against other women. They competed against the assumption that they did not belong. This is where they are now.
Bec Rawlings: The Woman Who Legitimized Bare Knuckle for Women
Bec Rawlings did not come from the underground. She came from the UFC -- the most legitimate platform in women's MMA. Her decision to transition from the Octagon to the BKFC squared circle was a deliberate choice that carried more significance than any individual fight result.
When Rawlings won the first women's bare knuckle fight in modern U.S. history at BKFC 2 in August 2018, she did not just win a bout. She proved that a women's bare knuckle division was viable -- that female fighters could compete without gloves, that audiences would watch, and that the format would not collapse under the scrutiny that any "first" inevitably attracts.
As of 2026, Rawlings remains active in BKFC, having competed in the promotion for over seven years. Her unanimous decision victory over Taylor Starling at KnuckleMania V in January 2025 demonstrated that her skills have not diminished with time. She has become the standard-bearer for women's bare knuckle boxing, a role that extends beyond competition to advocacy, mentorship, and the simple, visible proof that women belong in the ring.
Rawlings' longevity in a sport that destroys bodies at an accelerated rate is itself a pioneering achievement. She has outlasted male fighters who entered BKFC at the same time. She has adapted her style, managed her injuries, and maintained her competitive edge through sheer determination and professional discipline. The women's division she helped create now features fighters like Christine Ferea and Britain Hart who built their careers on the foundation Rawlings laid.
Christine Ferea: The Heir Apparent
Christine Ferea did not pioneer women's bare knuckle boxing -- Rawlings did that. But Ferea became the fighter who proved that the women's division could produce genuine stars, not just participants. Her aggressive, fan-friendly style and championship-caliber performances elevated the women's division from a novelty to a legitimate draw on BKFC cards.
Ferea's path to bare knuckle was itself a form of pioneering. She navigated the limited opportunities available to female fighters outside the UFC, competing in regional MMA before finding in BKFC a promotion that valued her skills and rewarded her aggression. In bare knuckle, her striking -- always her strongest attribute -- became even more effective without the gloves that had partially muted its impact in MMA.
As of 2026, Ferea is one of the most recognizable women in combat sports outside the UFC. Her BKFC career has produced a body of work -- championships, highlight-reel finishes, Fight of the Night performances -- that stands alongside the best records in any women's combat sports division. She is where she is because Rawlings opened the door. But she walked through it on her own terms.
Britain Hart: The Crossover Pioneer
Britain Hart brought something to women's bare knuckle that the division initially lacked: crossover appeal. A musician and content creator as well as a fighter, Hart understood that building a career in combat sports required more than just winning fights. It required building a brand, connecting with audiences, and creating a public persona that extended beyond the ring.
Hart's BKFC career was marked by competitive performances and a willingness to fight the toughest opponents available. Her social media presence and musical career gave her a platform that pure fighters often lack, and she used that platform to amplify women's bare knuckle boxing to audiences who might never have encountered it otherwise.
Her post-fighting trajectory has reflected this dual identity. Hart has continued to balance creative pursuits with combat sports involvement, using each to feed the other. Her pioneering role was not in being the first to fight -- others did that -- but in being among the first to demonstrate that a female bare knuckle fighter could build a sustainable, multi-dimensional career.
The Streetbeefs Women: Backyard Pioneers
While BKFC provided the most visible platform for women's underground fighting, Streetbeefs was staging women's fights in the backyard long before bare knuckle boxing had a women's division. Female competitors on the Streetbeefs channel faced the same conditions as their male counterparts -- the same ring, the same rules, the same camera. The difference was the response: women's Streetbeefs fights generated disproportionate attention, both supportive and hostile, from the channel's audience.
The women who fought on Streetbeefs cards did so knowing that the comment section would be brutal. They would be judged not just on their performance but on their appearance, their femininity, and their right to be in the ring at all. The ones who came back for multiple fights did so in spite of this scrutiny, demonstrating a form of courage that had nothing to do with physical toughness and everything to do with the willingness to be visible in a space that questioned their presence.
Most female Streetbeefs fighters competed a handful of times and returned to their regular lives. A few pursued formal training in boxing or MMA, inspired by their backyard experience. As of 2026, they are scattered across the country -- women whose fighting careers lasted a few afternoons in a Virginia backyard but whose participation helped normalize the idea that women could and would fight in any format available to them.
The International Pioneers: Women in Global Underground Fighting
The underground fighting scene outside the United States has produced its own female pioneers, often in cultural contexts where women's participation in combat sports is even more transgressive than it is in America.
In Russia, women have competed in Strelka-style events and regional bare knuckle promotions, facing not only opponents but social stigma in a culture with traditional gender expectations. In the UK, women participated in early BKB events and underground boxing shows, often under conditions where they were the only female fighters on the card. In Latin America, women have competed in backyard and street fighting events that operate entirely outside any organizational structure.
These international pioneers are even harder to track than their American counterparts. Many competed under assumed names or with minimal documentation. Their fights were recorded on phone cameras and uploaded without their knowledge or consent. The footage exists in scattered corners of the internet, but the fighters themselves have largely returned to anonymity.
What connects all of these women -- across countries, formats, and cultural contexts -- is the choice to fight in spaces that were not designed for them. That choice, repeated thousands of times by thousands of women across the underground fighting world, gradually transformed those spaces into something more inclusive, even if the transformation remains incomplete.
The Cost of Being First
Pioneering is not free. The women who broke into underground fighting paid costs that their male counterparts did not. They absorbed social judgment for participating in violence, a judgment that falls differently on women than on men. They faced physical dangers in formats where safety protocols were designed for male bodies. They competed for purses and opportunities that were often smaller than what male fighters received for comparable performances.
Some of these pioneers carry physical scars from their competition. Others carry psychological ones -- the accumulated weight of being questioned, dismissed, and objectified in spaces where they had earned the right to be taken seriously. A few have spoken publicly about the toll of pioneering, describing experiences that ranged from dismissive to hostile to genuinely threatening.
The women who endured these costs did not do so for future generations. They did it for themselves -- because they wanted to fight, because the underground was where they could fight, and because being told they did not belong was not a sufficient reason to leave.
The Present and Future: Where the Pioneers Led
The landscape for women in underground fighting is materially different in 2026 than it was a decade ago. BKFC has a thriving women's division. Streetbeefs regularly features women's bouts. International promotions actively recruit female fighters. The question is no longer whether women can fight in underground settings but how to create opportunities worthy of their talent.
This transformation did not happen because of a promotional decision or a policy change. It happened because individual women chose to fight, absorbed the consequences of that choice, and created a body of evidence -- fights, knockouts, performances -- that made the case for inclusion more effectively than any argument could.
The pioneers who made this possible are now in various stages of their post-fighting lives. Some, like Bec Rawlings, are still competing at the highest level. Others have retired, transitioned to coaching, or left the fighting world entirely. Wherever they are, they changed what underground fighting looks like, who it includes, and what it can become.
That is the legacy of pioneering. It is not always rewarded. It is not always acknowledged. But it is always permanent.
Watch: Women's Underground Fighting Highlights
The fighters who broke barriers in spaces that were never designed for them.
- Bec Rawlings -- First Women's Bare Knuckle Fight (BKFC 2) -- Rawlings winning the first women's bare knuckle fight in modern U.S. history in August 2018, opening the door for an entire division.
- Christine Ferea BKFC Highlights -- The heir to Rawlings' legacy, showcasing the aggressive, fan-friendly style that made her a BKFC champion and star.
- Britain Hart -- BKFC Fight Highlights -- The crossover pioneer who combined music, content creation, and bare knuckle fighting into a multi-dimensional career.
- Streetbeefs Women's Fights -- Female competitors on the Streetbeefs channel, fighting under the same conditions as their male counterparts in the Virginia backyard.
- Women in Bare Knuckle Boxing -- BKFC Division Highlights -- How the women's division grew from Rawlings' pioneering first fight into one of BKFC's most compelling draws.
- Bec Rawlings vs Taylor Starling -- KnuckleMania V -- Rawlings' dominant 2025 performance proving she remains a force seven years after her bare knuckle debut.
For more on women in BKFC, see our profiles of Christine Ferea, Britain Hart, and Paige VanZant. For the broader BKFC story, read Where Are They Now: The Original BKFC Fighters from 2018.