Kai Stewart is fired up.
The proud Great Falls, MT product is counting down the seconds until June 21, when he defends his BKFC World Featherweight Championship for the second time against the undefeated Bryan Duran (6-0) in the Main Event of BKFC 62 in Hollywood, FL, LIVE worldwide on The BKFC App.
Stewart, 23, is chomping at the bit to make an epic first impression on Conor McGregor, who recently became a part owner of BKFC, the world’s fastest growing combat sports promotion.
Seeing McGregor defeat Jose Aldo in just 13 seconds in their UFC featherweight title bout in late 2015 planted a seed in Stewart’s mind – a seed that eventually grew into Stewart becoming one of combat sports’ most electric rising stars.
Stewart has tirelessly sowed, and he’s ready to reap his bounty at BKFC 61.
“People are high if they think I’m going to lose this fight,” he says.
“I’m locked in. Everything I’m doing is perfect. Having Conor McGregor backing and promoting this fight is just one extra tiny, tiny fire lit underneath my (expletive), because at the end of the day it’s business as usual.”
And business is booming.
Stewart, who’s unbeaten in his first five trips to the Squared Circle, hopes to follow in a similar path as McGregor, who’s parlayed his sensational fighting career into massive success in business and entertainment.
Stewart, a realist, knows full well that he needs to keep on winning in the Squared Circle to follow in McGregor’s path. No worries on that front, he says. Stewart respects Duran, but he certainly sees his winning streak continuing in Florida.
“I expect a war with Bryan,” he says, “but I expect a very, very one-sided pounding and I’m swinging the hammer.”
