Christine Ferea aims to defend her bare knuckle boxing flyweight title in the coming days and sharpened her tools with a former UFC flyweight champion to prepare for it.
BKFC 65 looms closer with Ferea set to defend her 125-pound belt against the number one ranked contender, Jade Masson-Wong. This takes place in Salt Lake City on Sept. 6 and the dominant titleholder had posted to her Instagram that she has gotten in work with Valentina Shevchenko in the lead up to this matchup.
Speaking on Bare Knuckle Bowker, Ferea addressed her experiences training with Shevchenko and said:
"Oh, man, yeah that was; I love Valentina [Shevchenko]. I'm a huge fan of her. She's like one of my favorite UFC women fighters. Man, it was amazing to be able to train with her. She's cardio queen, doesn't get tired. Hits hard, very smart, very focused. It was great to be around."
Check Christine Ferea discussing the Valentina Shevchenko training below (15:14):
Christine Ferea and the machinations of this BKFC 65 bout
This champ camp featuring Valentina Shevchenko leads Christine Ferea to aim to make her fourth defense of this championship. The BKFC champion mentioned how impressed she is with the demonstrable punching power of her French Canadian opponent and is excited for this challenge.
Ferea is riding a six-fight winning streak into Friday night which is the longest for any woman in promotional history. She also holds the BKFC women's record for finishes with six stoppages to her credit.
The 41-year-old has notched prior defenses of her title against Taylor Starling and Bec Rawlings (twice) since capturing the belt from Britain Hart in 2022.
Having been with the company since BKFC 3, it can impart a certain gratitude to be where she's at now with cardboard cutouts of Ferea and Masson-Wong being posted up at GNC and 7-11 locations to promote the fight. That being said, Ferea has had an intense linear focus and rests on no laurels as she fights with the hunger of a contender trying to become champion.
'Misfit' had her last fight in Salt Lake City and returns to that market after her BKFC 56 unanimous decision title defense against Bec Rawlings. In this subsequent Salt Lake trip, Christine Ferea aims for a stoppage inside the first two rounds and mentioned she's targeting the most brutal knockout in BKFC history as well.
The California native is having her first fight of the calendar year and seems locked in on to win the BKFC fighter of the year award for the third year in a row.