Joshua Whiteside emerges with a win in BKFC debut
Welterweight Joshua Whiteside was seconds away from getting knocked down and possibly knocked out in the first round of his BKFC debut. The post Joshua Whiteside emerges with a win in BKFC debut appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.
Black News 
Welterweight Joshua Whiteside was seconds away from getting knocked down and possibly knocked out in the first round of his Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship debut against Isaiah Williams in front of a sold-out crowd at BKFC Fight Night Mohegan Sun 3 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Saturday, March 28.
But Whiteside rose to his feet from two official knockdowns and regrouped a third time after being floored a split second following the bell to end the round. In the second round, Whiteside came out intending to avoid going the full five, two-minute rounds, and earned a technical knockout of Williams in a thrilling comeback victory.
“I’ve been through so much that I knew I just had to keep getting up there,” said Whiteside in his postfight interview. “So I just kept getting up.” His opponent did not return to his feet in the second round.
“That was my first fist fight I ever gotten [into in] my life, period,” he admitted after the win. “I’ve never been in a fist fight, actually, in my life, so those punches were kind of real.” Unlike boxing, where combatants wear gloves weighing at least 8 ounces, BKFC fighters wear none.
Former WBO junior lightweight champion Jamel Herring, a native of Rockville Center, NY, in Hempstead, Long Island, made his BKFC debut in January at Mohegan Sun. He is now set to challenge for the BKFC Bantamweight championship when the former Marine faces Nate Maness at BKFC 89 Palm Desert on Friday, May 22, 2026.
“May is never just another month for me,” Herring said via X (Formerly known as Twitter). “My daughter Ariyanah’s birthday is May 25th. I lost her to SIDS when she was only two months old. In 2019, on that same day, I became a world champion. Now May 22nd, just days before her birthday and during Memorial Day weekend, I get the chance to fight for another world title. As a Marine, Memorial Day is about remembering those we’ve lost. This fight is my tribute to both.”
Before that world title event, BKFC will hold fight cards in Honolulu, HI, on Saturday; Townsville City, Australia, on April 18; and in Clearwater and Daytona, FL, on April 24 and May 6, respectively, in addition to other stops around the country.
Dominican UFC star Waldo Cortes-Acosta, a former minor league pitcher from 2010 to 2012 with the Dominican Summer League Reds (an affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) and who defeated MMA legend Derrick Lewis earlier this year, is scheduled to battle Alexander Volkov in the co-main event at UFC 328 at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, on Saturday, May 9.
The post Joshua Whiteside emerges with a win in BKFC debut appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.
