Photo credit to Phil Lambert. BKFC
“To me, this is a knife fight” – BKFC champ Lorenzo Hunt’s combative mindset
Lorenzo Hunt finished Joe Riggs at BKFC 24 to successfully defend his light heavyweight championship on April 30th.
I spoke with Hunt after this title defense and excerpts from our conversation are below.
Lorenzo Hunt
Misconceptions some have of Hunt and if there will come a time when his fight IQ is addressed more
“Honestly, there will always be some people who just are naysayers and they’re just looking for a wild good time. But yeah, eventually people will start to look over and see like hey, this guy is at the top. The elite level and he barely gets touched. He just fought Joe Riggs and didn’t get touched. I fought Hector Lombard and only got touched once. Somebody’s going to have to say hey, maybe there’s something to this whole martial arts thing he’s presenting.”
“Because I’ve been saying it the whole time. I’m not a fighter, I’m a martial artist. Not an MMA fighter, I’m a martial artist. I’m not a jiu-jitsu guy, I’m a martial artist. All of that stuff is new. This style of fighting, this bash mouth, crash mouth I can take a punch nonsense. It’s just that, it’s just nonsense. Self-defense was always about not getting hurt.”
BKFC 24
Curating a defensively responsible style in a sport largely devoid of normative defensive aspects
“This is not a sport for me. This is a lifestyle for me. I almost compare it to being attacked with a weapon. If I was attached with a weapon outside of a nightclub or something, I wouldn’t be able to put my gloves on first. I wouldn’t be able to wrap my hands first. Wouldn’t be able to grab something to protect myself. I would have to use what I have. The first and most important tool that I have is avoidance. I would have to avoid the weapon. In this case, the weapon is your bare knuckles. Avoidance is the number one weapon. The number one defense.”
“Then it forces you to put yourself in weird positions in order for you to continue to press your weapon. Now I can hurt you, you know what I mean? Like I said, a lot of the guys are fighting. A lot of people are just doing what they’re doing. They’re not really considering the life or death aspect. This is really is life or death. I can’t let you touch me. You don’t know which knuckle, you don’t know about nerve endings, nerve damage. You just don’t know. One cut could end a fight, one cut could end my life. A strike to the throat could hurt me. I can’t let you touch me.”
BKFC
“So like I said, I’m a blackbelt. I’ve always been a self-defense master. It’s going to show more and more and more and more. People are going to be like wow, this guy is incredible. Because the people who are coming into the BKFC, they’re bringing in all of these other ideologies and these other mindsets. MMA, the roughhousing that comes with it. Grappling, wrestling, jiu-jitsu. All of the Muay Thai, the dirty boxing, and all of that. All of it has pros and all of it has cons. It has weaknesses and they’re not really even considering it.”
Lorenzo Hunt continued, “Joe Riggs ran into that problem. He is a solid striker, he is a boxer. This ain’t boxing. He is a solid wrestler, he was a solid MMA guy. This ain’t MMA, this ain’t wrestling. So until the guys figure out exactly what this is, they’re in trouble. To me, this is a knife fight.”
Multi-division BKFC champion Lorenzo Hunt (?)
Eyeing multiple titles within BKFC and a possible Gustavo Trujillo rematch (Hunt’s lone BKFC loss)
“If it’s up to me, yeah I’m gonna pick the gold. See as a champion, it’s beneath me to fight for anything but a championship. So I don’t hold grudges. I’m not one of those people who’s reading comments on Instagram. Doing what the fans say to do. Gustavo cut me. He cut my lip…So unless Gustavo is in title contention, he will never get a chance to fight me. And I may never get the chance to run it back. But he’s doing pretty good, I’m rooting for him.”
“Because I want him to do well. So we can put on a great show in the 205 division. And maybe even again in the future in the heavyweight division. But Gustavo, he don’t make or break my plans. I’m going to be the first three seed champ. Starting with the 205 division. Because I am the number one contender at 205. With five KOs in the 205 division. It’s actually ridiculous that I don’t already have that belt.”
“Which would make me a double world champion already. Which would make me on my way to fight for the heavyweight strap. People may look at it like oh he’s being boastful. He’s this, he’s that. I’m naturally 220 pounds. That’s nothing for me to fight heavyweight. I’m naturally 220 pounds. 205 is a weight cut. 185 is a hell of a weight cut. So I mean what are you saying? If there’s anyone that can do it, it’s me.”
