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Ken Shamrock has a lot of exciting plans for Valor BK in 2023. The UFC Hall of Famer founded the bare-knuckle boxing promotion in 2019, with their inaugural event taking place on September 21 of that year.
The pandemic slowed down the promotion's progress, but the former UFC superfight champion is ready to resume, and one UFC veteran has already committed to the promotion's second event.
In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Shamrock confirmed that Lavar Johnson would return to the bare-knuckle promotion:
"We just did a thing with him [Lavar Johnson] with Bout Circle, which is our [Valor BK] podcast, and we just interviewed him about that. He's going to be on our next event. So, we got some exciting things coming up, I'm very excited for the future and 2023 of Valor Bare-Knuckle." [37:08 - 37:26]
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Johnson also competed at the inaugural Valor BK event, where he made quick work of former TUF contestant James McSweeney by knocking him out in the first round. 'The World's Most Dangerous Man' also opened up on why he forayed into bare-knuckle boxing rather than MMA:
"It was probably [influenced by] the early UFCs [events] when it was bare-knuckle. It was no rules and you go in there and you fight. And to me, I have never really felt anything like that in combat... To me - just as a fighter and as a competitor - it felt like this was the ultimate in combat sport." [33:50 - 34:27]
Shamrock comparing bare-knuckle boxing to the early years of the UFC is accurate. Despite the criticism of the sport, it has a devoted audience and could continue to gain traction in North America.
Check out the full interview:
Ken Shamrock was the first-ever UFC champion
During the prime of his MMA career, Ken Shamrock was regarded by many as one of the top fighters in the world.
'The World's Most Dangerous Man' began competing in Pancrase, a promotion based in Japan, and eventually made his way to the UFC. At UFC 6, he submitted Dan Severn via guillotine choke at 2:14 of the first round to become the first-ever UFC superfight champion.
Check out the full fight below:
