There has been a major happening on the BKFC landscape in regards to their bantamweight belt, and promoter David Feldman recently dropped a major announcement in reference to the 135 pound crown. This was done on The Bare Knuckle Show, as Feldman said,
“We had a talk with Justin Ibarrola. He just thought as though he wasn’t ready to be a champion now. He’s not ready for that. He wants to pursue some other things. To become, you know; to do some other things. Maybe glove boxing and things like that. But he’s going to actually relinquish his championship.”
“So, he’s going to vacate his championship. We’re not taking it from him. He did fight outside the organization. He fought on [a boxing event]. He got a win. Had nothing to do with that from our end, but from his end, he just thought that he didn’t want to; I guess he didn’t want to fight the guys that he was going to challenge. I don’t know what it is. I’m not; he’s not scared at all. He just said he wasn’t matured and ready enough to take on the role and the responsibility of being a world champion for BKFC. So, he is vacating that championship.”
Further underscoring the sentiment between BKFC and their now-ex titleholder, Feldman quipped,
“Listen, man, we really like Justin Ibarrola. He’s been a part of growing this thing in South Florida. Nothing but respect. No negative, no nothing to him at all. Just, you know, we wish him the best. He will be fighting here at BKFC. He just won’t be fighting as the champion…. He’s not ready to carry that. He also wants to bounce around a little bit. So, he can’t do that as a champion.”
The ex-BKFC champ in question sounds off, vacant title fight has already been booked
As for his side of the story regarding why he no longer holds onto the BKFC 135-pound title, the now-former champ Justin Ibarrola stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Just moving around. Still fighting for BKFC but can’t move around as I want as their champion.”
A clash for the vacant title is already set to go down as former WBO super featherweight champ Jamel Herring looks to become a two-sport titleholder. To do so, he must beat ex-UFC flyweight Nate Maness at BKFC 89 on May 22nd in Palm Desert, California.