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It’s not Johnny Tapia vs. Danny Romero, but it’s an all-Albuquerque grudge match.
It’s just the kind of scrap bare-knuckle fight fans buy tickets to see.
William Albrecht said on Wednesday that his dislike for Kyle McElroy is not mere hype. The two Albuquerque fighters are scheduled for a showdown on the undercard of Friday’s BKFC card at Tingley Coliseum.
“It’s pretty true,” Albrecht said during a pre-fight media “scrum” held at Jackson-Wink MMA. “The guy’s been kind of an a-hole.”
(It should be noted that McElroy was unavailable for equal time, having not attended Wednesday’s event).
McElroy, Albrecht recalled, slapped opponent Jay Jackson at the weigh-in before a Feb. 28 BKFC card at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
“Jay Jackson is such a great, humble fighter, a good man, and (McElroy) slapped him … for no reason,” Albrecht said. “That’s not how you sell a fight.
“(McElroy) said some things to my family and friends after that last show, saying I don’t have cardio and I can’t breathe. I really appreciate that because (cardio) is all I worked on, really. So I’m looking forward to this fight. I really want to shut him up.”
Albrecht has a 2-1 BKFC record after his victory by first-round TKO over Brett Fields on Feb. 28. McElroy, who lost to Jackson by second-round TKO, is 2-4.
RIGHT AT HOME: Like Shohei Ohtani, Murat Kilimetov speaks and understands more English than he lets on. Also like Ohtani, he prefers to do interviews in his native language.
Unlike Ohtani, he plans to change that.
“Give me one more year,” Kilimetov said on Wednesday, translated from his native Russian.
Kilimetov (2-0 BKFC) is scheduled to face Leo Bernier (5-2) of Missoula, Montana, on Friday’s card. He trains in Albuquerque at Jackson-Wink, where he’s supported by several other Russian speakers.
“This is my second home,” he said through a translator. “I’m excited to represent the city and to represent the gym.”
FINDING HIS NICHE: Belen’s Derek Perez has a 3-22-1 record as a professional boxer. He’s 3-9 as an MMA fighter.
In bare-knuckle fighting, he’s 4-4.
“This is my game, man,” said Perez, who’s scheduled to face Rick Caruso of Princeton, West Virginia, on Friday.
Compared to other forms of combat sports, he said, “It’s more intense. More blood.”
More blood? Yes.
As much as Perez likes the BKFC, BKFC likes him as well. Friday’s fight will be his fourth BKFC fight in Albuquerque, but the organization also has taken him to Denver, Columbia, South Carolina and twice to Florida.
Despite having had far more success in bare knuckle, Perez said he wouldn’t hesitate to accept another MMA fight or boxing match if they fit into his schedule.
Fighting is what he does.
“As long as the pay’s right,” he said, “I’ll do anything.”
NOT THIS TIME: After his spectacular first-round knockout of former BKFC champion Keith Richardson at the Convention Center on Feb. 28, Jackson-Wink fighter Bekhzod Usmonov was hoping to fight on Friday’s card at Tingley.
No one, he said, wants to fight him.
“(The BKFC) tried four or five people,” Usmonov said on Wednesday at Jackson-Wink. “Then we had a last chance to fight (a fighter) from the UK. I think he turned it down, too.
“A lot of people don’t want to lose their ranking, you know, if they will lose to me. It’s going to be, like a big effect on their career.”
Usmonov has two fights left on his BKFC contract and hopes to land a spot on upcoming cards elsewhere. It’s also possible that the BKFC will come back to Albuquerque before the year is out: Friday’s card will be the organization’s eighth in the metro area since 2019.
In the meantime, Usmonov, a native of Tajikistan, and Viktoria, his Russian-born wife, spend time with their month-old son.
Writer, R. W. /. J. S. (2025, June 4). Bare knuckles, bearing a grudge. Albuquerque Journal. https://www.abqjournal.com/sports/article_87e09d21-5955-45ad-9c9b-b9c0cdac5e1a.html