Joe Lauzon Wins Bare-Knuckle Debut at Fenway With 5 Knockdowns

Joe Lauzon picked a hell of a place to try bare-knuckle fighting for the first time. The 42-year-old UFC veteran ended his layoff to fight Stash Kuykendall at Fenway Park in Boston on Saturday night, and he needed just under two rounds to wrap it up — dropping his opponent five times before referee Dan Miragliotta stepped in 49 seconds into the second frame.

There was nothing tentative about it. Lauzon walked Kuykendall to the ropes early, hammered the body, then landed a right hand that scored the first knockdown. He kept marching forward, put Kuykendall down a second time on another right, and racked up a third before the opening round expired — the only thing that saved Kuykendall from an even earlier night.

A One-Sided Restart

The break didn't help. Lauzon dropped Kuykendall again almost immediately on the restart, then uncorked a left hand that snapped his opponent's head around and sent him face-first to the canvas. Kuykendall gutted his way back to his feet, but he was too far gone, and Miragliotta had seen enough.

Lauzon didn't sound like a man planning a bare-knuckle career afterward. He said he and Kuykendall always fight like it's a car crash, admitted he was leaving with a swollen eye, and joked that the only way he'd do this again is if BKFC ever came back to Boston. Read that as a polite one-and-done.

It fits the arc of a fighter who spent years as one of the most reliably watchable names on any UFC card. Lauzon built his reputation on chaos — all forward pressure, all finishes — and that's exactly the version that showed up at Fenway despite the long time off.

The event itself doubled as a reminder of how much muscle BKFC has behind it right now. The promotion is stacking star power, with Darren Till, who carries an 18-5-1 UFC ledger, booked for his second bare-knuckle fight in September. Lauzon, meanwhile, walks away with a clean 1-0 in the sport and a story he'll be telling for a long time: a hometown crowd, a baseball cathedral, and five knockdowns on his way out.