BKFC heavyweight gold was on the line as reigning champion and current number 2 overall pound-for-pound fighter in BKFC, Mick Terrill, faced off against the hard-hitting challenger, Ben Rothwell. In an elapsed total of about 8 minutes, Rothwell walked down the ramp empty-handed and walked back up it the newly crowned champ.
BKFC Knucklemania V Recap: BKFC Heavyweight title
Mick Terrill entered the evening 10-1 in bare knuckle competition- including a 4-1 record in BKFC- and he had not lost in over 3 years. In fact, Terrill had finished every fight with a knockout since suffering his lone loss, and only one of his wins came via decision, which was over 8 years ago.
Rothwell came in with a 3-0 record in bare-knuckle fights, all having come under the BKFC banner. Rothwell had finished all three of his opponents, including his debut fight which ended with a 19-second knockout.
Both of these men possess unimaginable raw power, and needless to say, both entered the evening very confident in their own abilities. The theatrics would not take long to start… and they would also not take long to end.
Just seconds into the fight, Terrill caught an inadvertent finger to the eye. Instead of taking the requisite time to gather his composure, Terrill did not want to waste any momentum. He waved off the referee and they went right back at it.
Bad decision.
As soon as the referee motioned for them to reengage, Rothwell found Terrill with a thunderous right hook that ended his night and championship defense in just 36 seconds.
At Thursday’s press conference at Parx Casino, Rothwell called Terrill a “bully” for making fun of his weight. When asked how it felt to bully the bully, Rothwell said, “I can feel in my heart that I was going to do what I set out to do.”
In interviews, Mick Terrill said there was a lot of back-and-forth between him and Rothwell. Continuing on with his answer, Rothwell said, “I didn’t say anything to the guy. I never said anything about him, I never called him any names. And for the last 4 to 6 weeks, everyday on my social media, it’s him calling me fat, him calling me names, him calling me stuff, and I’m just sitting there ‘oh back to grade school’… That was always with me, that chip on the shoulder when people would act that way.”
