This Friday night from the RP Funding Center in Tampa, FL comes Bare Knuckle FC’s Knucklemania event. For the final time, former UFC middleweight standout Chris “The Crippler” Leben (22-12 MMA, 1-1 BKFC) will toe the line and fight against Quentin “The Hero” Henry (12-6 MMA, 2-0 BKFC). Leben has won two out of three bare-knuckle contests and is looking to avenge a five-round decision loss to Dakota Cochrane. He has an agenda ostentatious enough for any first-time onlookers to know that a win would cap off a three-decade fighting career.
Do you BANG BRO!? 👊🏻 2021 Year of The Crippler Feb 5th @bareknucklefc pic.twitter.com/36kgPxgM6f
— Chris Leben (@ChrisLebenMMA) February 2, 2021
As for Henry, he is looking to extend his undefeated streak to three after this fight. He had two first-round knockout victories over Brandon Marlbrough in August of 2019 and fresh off a win over Jason Fann this past December of 2020. Leben has done the same to Phil Baroni in the World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation back in November of 2018. He made his BKFC debut with a win over Justin Baesman in April 2019 before the loss to Cochrane in June 2019.
Just before the dawning of the new year, Leben made it very clear that he is looking to put a hurtin’ on Henry via an apparent overhanded tweet.
Anyone make a 6” body bag? I’m about to put this dude in it. LEBEN vs HENRY Feb 5th, BKFC super bowl weekend 👊🏻 @bareknucklefc pic.twitter.com/EurtJfetgg
— Chris Leben (@ChrisLebenMMA) December 30, 2020
Henry looks up to the task of fighting Leben as he claims that it’s been a form of therapy for the 31-year old. After losing a large portion of his students due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he trained with a friend and bettered his conditioning in his hometown of West Monroe, Louisiana. He has prepared for his Bare Knuckle matches in a local jiu-jitsu academy since then.
Knucklemania will take place at 9 PM ET. Go to the BKFC website to select your Pay-Per-View provider.