Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC), the world’s fastest growing combat sports promotion, hosted its second sold-out event in Bulgaria with BKFC 58 on Friday at Arena Sofia in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The BKFC 58 Main Event featured a must-see battle between Bulgarian cruiserweight contenders Toni Markulev and Kaloyen Kolev. Both combatants left it all in the Squared Circle for five hard, highly competitive rounds, with Markulev ultimately bringing home the victory by unanimous decision.
Markulev dropped Kolev once in the opening round and won three rounds, according to the ringside judges, who unanimously scored the Main Event 48-46 in favor of the debuting Markulev. Kolev’s record fell to 1-1 with the loss.
A record thirteen nationalities were represented in the Squared Circle on Friday.
In the BKFC 58 Co-Main Event, Serbia’s Vaso Bakocevic defeated Egypt’s Ramadan Nooman via majority decision in their hotly contested welterweight showdown. The lone knockdown of the bout came at the expense of Nooman in the second round. The ringside judges scored it 48-46, 46-48, 47-47.
After five hard, action-packed rounds, Zohrab Azimov’s and Veselin Ivanov’s featherweight clash was declared a split draw. One judge scored it 48-46 in favor of the Azerbaijanian Azimov, one judged scored it 48-46 for the Bulgarian Ivanov, and one judge ruled it a 47-47 draw.
Yunus Batan of Turkey dropped Bulgaria’s Zhivko Stoimenov four times to earn the TKO victory 21 seconds into the fourth round of their middleweight showdown.
Dominik Estorer was dropped once and sent France’s Steve Pasche to the canvas twice, leading to a first-round KO for the German newcomer in their light-heavyweight battle. The back-and-forth fight was stopped with just one second left in the first round.
Iran’s Mehdi Barghi overcame an early knockdown in his first-round, come-from-behind KO victory over Nikolai Alexiev of Bulgaria in heavyweight action. Time of the stoppage was 1:47.
Bulgarian heavyweight Stanoy Tabakov picked himself up off the canvas and returned fire with a jaw-dropping, overhand right KO over Petr Beranek of Czech Republic. Time of the stoppage was 1:24 in the first round.
Angel Petkov of Bulgaria edged out Brazilian Felipe Maia for the razor-close victory by majority decision in their lightweight battle. Two judges scored the back-and-forth contest 49-45 in favor of Petkov, while one judge scored it 47-47.
Bulgaria's Iliyan Adrianov flattened Tomas Vojtela of Slovakia with a one-punch KO in the first round of their lightweight matchup. Time of the stoppage was 1:38.
Nicole Schaefer took home the TKO win over Daniela Graf in their battle of German flyweights. Schaefer relentlessly attacked the body of her opponent, forcing Graf’s corner to stop the fight at the conclusion of the second round.
Ruslan Tokhtarov of Austria earned a unanimous decision victory over Bulgaria’s Zdrovko Dimitrov in their spirited welterweight showdown. The judges scored it 48-47, 49-46, 48-47.
In the opening bout of BKFC 58, Bulgaria’s Emil Enchev floored Sakis Zampelos of Greece three times in less than 30 seconds en route to a 38-second KO victory in their light-heavyweight matchup.
BKFC 58 Results
Toni Markulev def. Kaloyen Kolev via Unanimous Decision (48-46x3)
Vaso Bakocevic def. Ramadan Nooman via Majority Decision (48-46, 46-48, 47-47)
Zohrab Azimov vs. Veselin Ivanov is ruled a Split Draw (48-46, 46-48, 47-47)
Yunus Batan def. Zhivko Stoimenov via TKO in Round 4 (0:21)
Dominik Estorer def. Steve Pasche via KO in Round 1 (1:59)
Mehdi Barghi def. Nikolai Alexiev via KO in Round 1 (1:47)
Stanoy Tabakov def. Petr Beranek via KO in Round 1 (1:24)
Angel Petkov def. Felipe Maia via Majority Decision (49-45x2, 47-47)
Iliyan Adrianov def. Tomas Vojtela via KO in Round 1 (1:38)
Nicole Schaefer def. Daniela Graf via TKO in Round 2 (2:00)
Ruslan Tokhtarov def. Zdrovko Dimitrov via Unanimous Decision (48-47, 49-46, 48-47)
Emil Enchev def. Sakis Zampelos via KO in Round 1 (0:38)
