The ‘bare knuckle mums’ who brawl in gory fight nights that can earn £1,000s
BARE KNUCKLE boxing is tipped to take over mixed martial arts as the world’s No1 contact sport.
And it’s now drawing a fresh wave of female athletes to the sport, with the top fighters raking as much as £610,000 per clash.
In the ultra-violent matches, competitors regularly end bouts with contorted faces, toothless and covered in blood.
In April this year, UFC legend Conor McGregor became a part-owner of the sport’s biggest company, BKFC, which founder David Feldman said would “open up a lot of new markets” and “blow this s*** up”.
Fight videos from the US firm are reported to have surpassed two billion impressions on social media, reaching 150 million households and been downloaded 2.5million times.
Fighters are being paid huge sums – including female stars like former UFC star Paige VanZant, who revealed she earned $800,000 (£610,000) for one clash.
She previously told The Sun: “I’m here for a reason. I was in the UFC for six years getting paid $40,000 (to show) and $40,000 (to win), and now I’m getting ten times that doing what I love.
“So obviously, I’m not going anywhere. I’m very happy fighting here and I’m excited to fight.”
Another fighter, mum Sydney Smith revealed she earned $8,000 for one fight in April – others say the minimum pay a BKFC fighter can make is $500 (£380) per fight.
The scene is growing in the UK too, with Bare Knuckle Boxing (BKB) events being held at The 02 arena, in London.
One such athlete is Swedish fighter Mathilda Wilson, 25, who is married to fellow bare-knuckle boxer Liam Wilson, from the UK, who often appears on the same fight cards as her.
Mathilda admits the couple do not lead a “very stereotypical family life” as they both need to get their hours in at the gym in preparation for professional bouts.
Often, this will mean their son Zion – when he’s not playfully training with them – sleeps on his parents’ hit mats.
Mathilda tells The Sun: “We don’t live a very stereotypical family life. We live life basically the same, he’s just with us doing everything.
“I love mixing it. I couldn’t picture my life without him. It’s just the best”.
Mathilda made the surprising decision to get involved in martial arts at the age of 19 after collapsing from an undiagnosed heart problem and needing to have a peacemaker fitted.
She said: “The doctor said that I couldn’t do any physical sports, like martial arts or ice hockey.
“I’m a little bit like if somebody tells me I can’t do something, I need to do it. I was stubborn. I just went and signed up, as I wasn’t allowed to do martial arts.”
In 2022, Mathilda made history by taking part in the UK’s first professional female bare-knuckle bout against Taylor Reeves – a clash she won.
She admits balancing her need to fight with parenthood hasn’t been an easy task – but it’s one she considers important.
When a woman does it people say well there must be something wrong, why would she want to do it?
Mathilda
“It’s a puzzle. You have to fit everything in the best sort of way, with three individual people. Everyone has their own needs,” Mathilda said.
“Liam has got his needs, I have my needs, the baby has his, and you have to try and fit them all together. If you don’t follow the needs you’re going to have problems. It’s unavoidable.
“I would never give up on myself. If you do that you’re going to become a miserable person. That was my biggest fear. I can’t lose myself.”
Mathilda tells us that people might think it is selfish to keep fighting with a child. But she thinks it is the opposite.
“If I’m not taking care of myself, then I won’t be a good wife, I won’t be a good mother to my kid,” she says.
“I want him to see that he should follow his dreams.”
Inside the UK's undergound fight clubs
BY Emma Pietras and Josh Saunders.
IT’S estimated that FIVE illegal underground fights happen every week in the UK in disused warehouses, car parks and motorway underpasses.
The bloody battles often have no rules and no medical team on standby, which increases the risks to combatants.
Fighters are often looking to make a name for themselves so that they can transition to the likes of the UFC, where they are paid tens of thousands of pounds per clash.
Videos featuring their illegal bouts drum up big traffic – the top three fight clubs received 51million views each from their latest videos.
Many of the fighters suffer lasting injuries, including Alex who told the Channel 4 documentary UNTOLD: The Secret World of Fight Clubs about one of his worst.
“Ten seconds in, he bit my ear off. I didn’t know it had come off at first. Blood was trickling down my face,” he said.
Doctors couldn’t reattach the bitten-off piece of his ear due to it being torn off, rather than a clean cut, but says he’s not fussed by it.
He added: “There was a risk of infections too, so there was no chance. It’s quite a big chunk, about the width of your pinkie finger. It doesn’t bother me.”
It’s estimated fighters are paid around £2,000 for each of their underground fights – but there is a caveat.
“You only get paid if you win,” Alex said. “It’s not enough to make a career. This isn’t a job for me.”