MIAMI, FLORIDA – BYB Extreme, the biggest and baddest bare knuckle company on the planet, makes its New Mexico debut with a night of hard-hitting action January 11 at Revel ABQ in Albuquerque. The historic card will be headlined by the long-awaited rematch between two of the most accomplished bare knuckle fighters on the planet when BYB two-division champion LT “Smash” Nelson defends his BYB Super Middleweight Police GazetteDiamond Belt against Birmingham, England’s James “The Truth” Connelly.
The fight is a rematch of their BYB 19 championship fight that ended in a draw and went on to be named the 2023 Bare Knuckle Hall of Fame Police Gazette Fight of the Year. It was Connelly’s first fight in the US and Nelson had taken the fight on late-notice, replacing Desmond Green.
Since their 2023 fight, Nelson and Connelly have formed a friendly bond, and might even consider each other pals. Each is throwing that out the window come January.
Said Nelson, “I can't wait for this rematch so I can shut up all of James Connelly fans and show everyone who the true and real super middleweight champion of the world is. More important I want to show the world thatI did win that first fight - even though the people judging somehow say it as a draw (ridiculous)!
“James is now a friend, but just like I've said in the past, as soon as I step in that Trigon, I'm trying to kill; and James better be ready to take it to that point because I'm always ready togo and I'm ready to die in there.”
Said Connelly noting Nelson’s unbeaten record against 5 UK bare knuckle champions, “After he [Nelson] had beaten all the British fighters he has faced, I believe my trainer put it best when he said to me: ‘There is only one man for the job.’”
“We are two of the best in the world andI’m happy that this inevitable rematch is finally happening. Nelson is a great guy, but we are fighters, and when that bell rings, we haven’t got time to be friends.”
Card subject to change. More fights and ticketing information to be announced soon.
BYB’s next show is December 6 when it returns home to South Florida for BYB 34: Brawl in the Pines IV. BYB is broadcast live globally on bkbworld.tv and on Fuse TV, The Fight Network and BeIN Sports in North America, as well as through direct channel partnerships in countries throughout the world. For more information, tickets, and more, follow @bybextreme on all social media platforms and visit bybextreme.com.
ABOUTBYB
Originating in South Florida with backyard legend Dada 5000, whose backyard fights gained worldwide popularity online, BYB was founded to harness the excitement of bare knuckle fighting into a more structured product for a wider, more mainstream audience. Since 2015, BYB has worked diligently to grow the reach of bare knuckle on both a domestic and international level, hosting events in Wyoming, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, England, Wales, and Dubai, and is continuing to work with athletic commissions throughout the United States and globally to expand the fanbase growing sport of bare knuckle fighting. In May 2024, BYB acquired London-based BKB, the world’s first professional bare knuckle boxing promotion, who has successfully promoted forty bare knuckle events which were broadcast in over thirty-five different countries with millions of fans and viewers worldwide. For more information on BYB, visit bybextreme.com and follow @bybextreme on social.
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