BKFC 85 on December 5th is a big checkpoint on a path that has been a quarter of a century in the making for Ryan Reber, who looks to make good on his sophomore bid for BKFC gold. Reber will get his second crack at the BKFC 135-pound crown when he clashes with Justin Ibarrola for the vacant bantamweight crown in Florida on Friday.
When touching on the machinations of this BKFC matchup against a fellow stalwart bantamweight contender in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, Reber said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“So it’s going to be a very interesting fight. And if Justin has worked as hard as he said he has, then it could be a fight of the night. If he hasn’t, I’m knocking him the f**k out and it will probably only go three rounds. And that’s my prediction for this is three rounds and he’s out of there. Whether it’s a doctor stoppage, whether it’s a TKO, or whether it’s just a straight knockout. And that’s what I’m coming for.”
When touching on outsider perceptions that he will be the most battle-tested BKFC opponent Ibarrola has had to clash with so far, Reber stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“No, absolutely, man. 100%. And I think he’s not really; maybe he is and he’s just talking differently about it, but he’s really not putting that into context. Like we fought a lot of the same guys. And I mean, arguably I beat them up worse than he did. You know what I mean? So, and there’s a couple of fights that he squeaked, really squeaked by. And I mean, realistically, I haven’t had a fight where I squeaked by.”
“Maybe you could say Travis [Thompson] cuz the sixth round war, but that was also a fight where I had two fights. Technically three, but I don’t count the ‘Shady’ fight because of you know, everybody knows that story. But I technically had two fights. Travis had nine. And when I tell you Travis had Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman in his corner. He was training at his gym.”
“And I mean, if you asked Travis at that time, are you going to beat Ryan? He’d have been like, there’s no doubt. I got the experience. I got the knowledge. I got the power. I got the moves. I mean Travis was not only not scared to fight me but he thought 100% he was going to take me out. I mean for me to go in there and do what I did especially after coming off the damn Gamebred loss was like you know that’s why I feel like they threw me to the wolves.”
BKFC tape on ibarrola broken down by Ryan Reber
As Ryan Reber made references to mutual opponents he and Justin Ibarrola have faced, as well as the perception Ibarrola has been in tighter competitive outings during his BKFC tenure, Reber continued [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“They’re like oh you want to go to Gamebred and get f**ked up [in a gloved boxing bout]? I’m like ‘yo, it was a four day notice, man’ but they’re like I don’t care, watch now you got to fight Travis. I’m like we’ll f**k it, line it up, let’s fight him you know. I came in there with a good mentality, a good game plan, and we got the job done. And like I said, that was the only fight where I really squeaked by.”
“I mean, Quinton Foye was kind of close, but it wasn’t even close on on the scorecards… Then you look back at Justin, Justin Street’s really close. Quinton Foye definitely dropped him and they didn’t give him that drop.”
“Then of course my boy, Roberto Armas. I feel like, you know, obviously he didn’t do enough to beat him, but I mean, arguably it could have went either way, you know what I mean? So, bro, when you’re out here, you know, squeaking past fights and then you’re out here talking like, well, if I lose to somebody like you, I’m just going to quit. Like, bro, not only did you just add more pressure to the fight for yourself.”
“But like I said, you better get your f**king next job lined up, man, because I’m looking to come whoop your a**, man. And you better have a plan for that. So, you know, we’ll see. And nothing, you know, nothing stands out to me with Justin that is impressive except for his record. You know what I mean?”
“Like we fight very, very similar. As soon as you put pressure on him, where does he go? Right back to the ropes. And then he tries to counter just like I do. But the difference between countering is it’s all about timing and I’m a little bit longer. So, I do believe I’m going to be that split second that’s gonna catch him before he catches me. And that’s going to be the difference is, you know, my reach. And, you know, I just feel like I’m more of a f**king dog than he is, man. And, it’s going to be shown come December 5th.”