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Knucklemania VI: 18,217 in Attendance Breaks 2025 Record
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Bare Knuckle FC broke its own record for modern combat sports attendance in Philadelphia, with more than 18,000 people on hand Saturday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Andrei Arlovski defeated Ben Rothwell in the main event to win the heavyweight title, while Lorenzo Hunt KO’d Dave Mundell in the co-main.
“18,217 people in the house tonight,” said BKFC President David Feldman. “We started this thing about a half a mile away in a warehouse with one fight and four people. One fight and four people. Tonight we did 18,217 people. I want to thank my team, my fighters, my family, everybody who supported us to get here. It’s a special night for us and special moment for us. It’s the beginning of amazing things to come in 2006.”
Last year’s event had 17,762 fans in attendance with local headliner Eddie Alvarez.
Feldman noted in the postgame press conference that they might be doing a second event at Xfinity Mobile Arena each year, in addition to Knucklemania.
Johnny Cannoli
South Philly’s John Garbarino won via 5th round TKO against Kaine Tomlinson Jr.
It was a really weird fight, with Tomlinson Jr. dropping to a knee whenever Garbarino would close the distance and land a shot or two against the ropes. There was a goofy sequence in which Garbarino picked up Tomlinson in the clinch and dropped him, resulting in Tomlinson grabbing his neck and staying down for a few minutes. It all made for a very janky and disjointed bout in which the crowd was booing the absolute hell out of Tomlinson until it was called in the 5th round.
Not an instant classic, but a successful night for Garbarino, who got a big push from BKFC and did a ton of media across the city over the past two weeks. There were Garbarino towels draped over every seat in the building and he was easily the biggest draw of the local fighters, getting a really nice pop upon entrance.
Most interesting was that a not-insignificant portion of the crowd left after his fight and didn’t stay for the main and co-main events. There were empty seats littering the bowl after Johnny Cannoli’s bout, perhaps the biggest example of his budding star power.
Now that Garbarino is a common name in these parts, it’s about climbing the ladder, fighting some tougher competition, and challenging for the belt.
Philly fighters
The local fighters on the card did pretty well. Notes on that:
1) Pottstown’s Travis Thompson lost a decision to open the prelims, but that was followed up with wins for Prince Nyseam (Camden), Lex Ludlow (Levittown), Zedekiah Montanez (Philly), and Cody Russell (West Chester). Russell was given a KO of the night bonus.
2) South Philly’s Patrick Sullivan had a chance to rewrite his story after being brutally KO’d at last year’s event, but he was dropped early by +400 underdog Charles Bennett and then stopped in the 2nd round, going down as a TKO loss:
3) Pat Brady walked out with Shane Gillis and put on the fight of the night, outlasting Bear Hill in a five-round heavyweight slugfest. Hill fell over a few times from what looked to be straight exhaustion, both guys swinging pretty much nonstop for the entirety. They were rewarded with doubled purses for their effort and Brady announced his retirement afterward.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com