Parker Porter continues to carve a swath through Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, and his next throwdown in the world of gloveless combat transpires on Saturday. The ranked BKFC heavyweight will collide with Haze Wilson at BKFC Mohegan Sun on March 28th, but that wasn’t always the plan.
Fellow-ranked BKFC contender Josh Watson was initially slated for the Connecticut card. But Watson had to withdraw, which made way for Wilson, and touching upon the opposition switch, Parker Porter said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“It’s a shame that Josh and I weren’t able to meet each other in the ring. Some situations that came up that he had to unfortunately decline. I hope everything gets squared away well for him. We got to meet and hang out a little bit. When we both fought on the Mohegan card back in June last year. He’s a great guy, man. We were joking around, hanging out afterwards. Talking about how oh, you’re a really nice guy.”
“It’s going to be a really sad situation when we got to beat the crap out of each other in front of everybody. But that being said, with the opponent change to Haze Wilson, I’m really looking forward. I think this is a little bit of a favorable matchup for me. He’s tough as nails. He’s got some experience with everything, even though he’s only got the one fight with the BKFC against Anthony Garrett. He’s tough, man. He’s game. I’m expecting to have a fight on my hands. So, I’ve been preparing for everything.”
The term MMA math is used frequently, but in this case there is a concious effort to avoid something that would approximate bare knuckle math. In the sense of that by virtue of Porter beating Anthony Garrett and then Haze Wilson losing to Garrett where it imparts to the ex-UFC vet that he presumes he will blast through Wilson considering this context. Touching upon these dynamics, and how the bare knuckle heavyweights have intersected, Parker Porter stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Like you always want to try at this day and age to do as much homework on the guy as you can. Try to watch as many things, see how they’ve changed their game from one fight to the next. Because anybody that’s worth their weight is going to be trying to fix things, especially if they’re coming off of a loss. That being said too, coming off of a loss usually makes people really hungry to get back in that win column.”
“So, I’m expecting him to be aggressive and coming out to try and prove something. He’s got a good opportunity against somebody like myself being a ranked opponent in the heavyweight division. If he’s bringing everything that his game can offer, then he’s going to have a big opportunity to make a name for himself. But I’m going to make sure that I do everything that I can do to make sure he’s not making his name off of me.”
Porter has been a big fixture of the promotion’s BKFC Mohegan Sun residency, and with the next chapter in that story unfurling at that venue in the coming days, Parker Porter quipped [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Yeah, it feels really good, like I’ve fought at Mohegan. This will be my ninth fight at Mohegan Sun, so it really is like home to me. But more importantly with the BKFC giving me so many opportunities to fight there and headline several events now, I really am doing everything that I can to try and build the culture.”
“Make people more aware in the entire New England region about BKFC and about everything that we have to offer in terms of entertainment. Like, it’s where you want to be. Get out here in New England, support your guys, and who knows, start training yourself. Maybe you’ll be the next one in there.”
Parker Porter on the lessons that were “smashed into a single situation” in his prior BKFC bout
Parker Porter’s fight with Anthony Garrett would be considered the kind of a performance that can inspire many new fans to get interested or people to pivot into the game and become fighters themselves. An inspiring showcase, surviving multiple knockdowns, and notching an emphatic comeback KO was the cherry on top for one Parker Porter in that outing which maintained his spotless ledger in them bloody world of bare knuckle.
Spotlighting the totality of the story in that fight, when asked for his main takeaways from that Anthony Garrett bout that closed out 2025, Parker Porter said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Yeah, I think that was the biggest thing that I got to put on display was my ability to persevere. I’m a tough SOB as a lot of guys from the New England area are. I got to put that on full display and really send a good message to everybody that’s going to be fighting me. As well as people that might draw inspiration from the fact no matter how many times you get knocked down, if you get back up and keep going. You refuse to quit, you can you can get that win, whether it’s in life or in the ring.”
“So that it. Just I’m proud of that part, of being able to put that message on display. But then also, I’m more critical of myself in the sense of I didn’t get to display my best and most fullest skill set. Because I allowed myself to get drawn into a brawl. Into a little bit of a pissing contest where it’s ‘who’s going to be the tougher guy.’ Thankfully, I was the tougher guy, but I’m not super proud of my performance in the sense of the skills that I displayed.”
With the dynamic of Wilson and how there’s a certain fervor with wanting to return back to the win column in a particular way after a loss, it would seem like a fair inference that he may try to force a firefight himself. But considering Porter’s regrets about losing composure in the Garrett fight when asked if these elements would behoove the composure dynamic in this Wilson bout, considering the energy he is likely to bring, Parker Porter stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“100%. I also feel with that last fight, it essentially gave me a significant amount of condensed experience that a lot of other guys don’t get the opportunity to have. I feel like the experience and the knowledge that I gained from that one fight was probably the equivalent of what some of these guys achieve over three or even four fights. But it was all just kind of smashed into a single situation. The accelerated learning, if you will.”