Austin Trout and Luis Palomino will square off in the world of bare-knuckle boxing in the headliner of BKFC 85, with the two co-main event fighters doing their part for that big fight. Trout and Palomino pitched first BKFC 57 in February 2024, with the former beating the latter on points.
‘No Doubt’ Trout captured the welterweight title from Palomino when their rematch was part of the semifinals of a tournament designed to crown a new BKFC champion at lightweight, as the 155-pound belt is currently vacant.
Speaking of vacant titles, the aforementioned co-main event fight at BKFC 85 is for the vacant bantamweight belt as former BKFC title challenger Ryan Reber clashes with undefeated Justin Ibarrola.
Ryan Reber gave his opinion on how Trout vs. Palomino 2 takes place [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“It’s a different weight, man. So we’ll just have to see. I think the first one was real close. I think this one will be real close too and someone will slide it out like last time, man. Maybe Palomino will take it this time and they’ll have a trilogy. I don’t know. But then it’ll be in a tournament, so they’ll have to wait for that. And that’s the other thing about a bare-knuckle tournament.”
“So, man, you go out there and you have a full-blown war and you break your hand or you can’t fight for another four months, where does that leave the guy who’s next in line? He’s got to wait another four months before you are, you know what I mean?”
“So the tournament is a little weird, especially when it comes to bare knuckles, but you know what, I get it. I get it. I just didn’t get it for our weight class and it didn’t make any sense. So I said no, you know what I mean? Like, I don’t do that. So you know, it is what it is.” [laughs].”
Justin Ibarrola of BKFC 85 sees similarities in his game compared to trout and palominos
As for the other side of the co-main event, when he broke down who he thinks will advance to the finals to fight Franco Tenaglia for the BKFC lightweight title between Austin Trout and Luis Palomino, Justin Ibarrola stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“I’m a big fan of both of them. Honestly, I like the way Palomino fights. I like to compare me and Palomino a little bit with our styles. They’re different, but I like the way he throws punches. I like the way he approaches the fight. Then you have Trout, a smart boxer, man. Like, he’s been in the ring with big guys. He knows how to move and he’s fast and he’s hard to catch.”
“Like he uses the same approach as me, hit and don’t get hit, you move around the ring and it works. I think me and him are two of the guys that use that approach with everyone in the company and as you can see, it’s what works. No matter how hard we get hit, no matter who drops us, no matter who cuts us in the face or hurts us, our strategy has worked and continues to work.”
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