Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship Thailand 3: Buakaw vs. Varol will be a bare-knuckle fighting event to be held by Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship on September 3, 2022, at the Rajadamnern Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Fight Card
Main Card
Lightweight Buakaw Banchamek (Thailand) vs. Erkan Varol (Turkey)
Featherweight Pongpisan Chunyong (Thailand) vs. Surasak Sukkhamcha (Thailand) BKFC Thailand Featherweight Championship
Light Heavyweight Chaloemporn Sawatsuk (Thailand) vs. Dominic Ahnee (USA)
Heavyweight Steve Banks (USA) vs. Ahmed Abdelfattah (Egypt)
Lightweight Sornchai Kantiphong (Thailand) vs. Jakkaphop Rattanamangsang (Thailand) King of the Streets Superfight Championship
Light Heavyweight Mikhail Vetrila (Russia) vs. Luis Paulo Terra (Brazil)
Featherweight Pipat “Mike” Chaiporn (Thailand) vs. Frankke Sirahat (Thailand)
Bantamweight Usanakorn Thawinsuwannawang (Thailand) vs. Chesu Nuval (Philippines)
Bantamweight Sinthruram Petchaan (Thailand) vs. Suban Malopho (Thailand)
Flyweight Tai Emery (Australia) vs. Rung-Arun Khunchai (Thailand)
Featherweight Sadudee Srimueang (Thailand) vs. Malinda Amarasinghe (Sri Lanka)
Middleweight Kantapon Petsang (Thailand) vs. Chanwut Kaewnamyen (Thailand)
Background
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) Thailand presented by Singha is set to return with an electrifying third event on Saturday, September 3, 2022, live from the world-famous Rajadamnern Stadium in Bangkok.
BKFC Thailand CEO Nick Chapman says, “This card is crazy. We have some really interesting fighters on this card… stay tuned for some crazy storylines. If this card doesn’t get you pumped, nothing will.”
BKFC Thailand 3 will be headlined by one of Thailand’s greatest athletes of all time, Buakaw Banchamek, who will make his promotional debut against Turkish kickboxer Erkan Varol. Widely considered to be among the greatest Muay Thai fighters of all time, holding a 240-24-12 record in the sport, Buakaw made his highly-anticipated return to competition on July 6 after nearly three years away. He will face Varol, who brings an impressive 88-33 kickboxing record into his bare-knuckle boxing debut.
Alongside the main event, there will also be two title fights on the card. In the co-main event, the inaugural BKFC Thailand featherweight champion will be crowned in a battle between Pongpisan “Ton” Chunyong and Surasak Sukkhamcha. Chunyong is one of three fighters to pick up wins in each of BKFC Thailand’s first two events, and the only one to win both by stoppage. He will also become the first fighter to compete in the promotion three times when he goes toe-to-toe with the 19 year old Sukkhamcha, who earned a unanimous decision victory in his debut at BKFC Thailand 1: The Game Changer.
After stealing the show at BKFC Thailand 2: Iconic Impact, this event will host another fight between street fighters, this time crowning an official “King of the Streets”, complete with a trophy. The winner of that fight, Sornchai “Maseng” Kantiphong, was called out by his opponent, Jakkaphop “Phop Perfect” Rattanamangsang, who said that no one can claim to be the best street fighter without fighting him. That debate will be put to rest with this fight.
Two women’s fights are set to take place on the card as well. Former two-division WBC champion Usanakorn Thawinsuwannawang kicked off the last card with a bang, scoring a destructive TKO victory. She will face Chesu Nuval of The Philippines, who makes her bare-knuckle boxing debut after a decorated amateur MMA career. Model and former American football star Tai Emery of Australia will bring a solid boxing base into her bare-knuckle boxing debut against fellow debutant Rung-Arun Khunchai, a 60-fight Muay Thai and Muay Boran competitor.
Beyond the aforementioned fighters, four more fighters from previous the two previous BKFC Thailand events are set to return to the BKFC ring. Fan favorite heavyweight Steve “Panda” Banks scored a second-round knockout in his last fight, and will now face a champion in multiple combat sports in Ahmed “Koko Hammer” Abdelfattah in the Egyptian’s debut.
Sadudee Srimueang also picked up a second-round stoppage at the last event, and is now matched up with Sri Lankan Wushu and Karate standout Malinda Amarasinghe. “Street Fight Mike” Mikhail Vetrila came up just short in the main event for the light heavyweight title last time, and will look to get back on track against kickboxing, Muay Thai, and MMA champion Luis Paulo “Rato” Terra. After losing a decision at BKFC Thailand 1, Pipat “Mike” Chaiporn returns to fight to get into the win column for the first time against 72-fight Muay Thai veteran Frankke Sirahat.
Three more action-packed bouts round out the card, including Chaloemporn Sawatsuk, who recently became a professional fighter after gaining recognition for his commitment to his prison’s fight team and starring in the movie A Prayer Before Dawn, and Kantapon “Black Falcon” Petsang, a former member of the Royal Thai Special Forces Army whom BKFC Thailand CEO Nick Chapman discovered at a super-secret underground fighting event while filming a documentary for a mainstream TV channel. They will face 15-fight MMA professional Dominic Ahnee and notorious street fighter Chanwut Kaewnamyen respectively. Sinthruram Petchaan, a veteran of 230 professional Muay Thai fights including two wins over ONE Championship Muay Thai champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon, is also set to make his bare-knuckle debut alongside his opponent Suban Malopho, who also has well over a hundred fights across Muay Thai and boxing.
