Canadian flyweight Jade Masson-Wong loses split decision in bare-knuckle title fight

SALT LAKE CITY — Christine (The Misfit) Ferea won a split decision over Canadian challenger Jade Masson-Wong to defend her Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship flyweight title Friday.

It was a close bout with plenty of clinches. The judges scored it 49-46, 46-49, 49-46 for Ferea, who was making her fourth BKFC title defence.

"Very unsatisfied with that performance, I'm sorry guys. The clinch, she kept on holding on to me," said the 41-year-old Ferea, who fights out of Las Vegas. "I wanted to box more."

"Next performance will be better," she added.

Masson-Wong, the No. 1 contender in the flyweight division, looked disgusted when the verdict did not go her way.

Former UFC and PFL fighter veteran Jeremy (Lil Heathen) Stephens improved to 2-0-0 in bare-knuckle action with a unanimous (49-43) decision over fifth-ranked lightweight Bobby Taylor (6-2-0) in the co-main event at the Maverik Center. The 38-year-old Stephens knocked the 46-year-old Taylor down in the third, fourth and fifth rounds.

Bare-knuckle fighting is conducted — in some jurisdictions — under the same body that regulates boxing and mixed martial arts.

Bouts are contested in a ring with five two-minute rounds. Fighters are permitted to wrap and tape the wrist, thumb and mid-hand, but no gauze or tape can be within 2.5 centimetres of the knuckles. Punches are the only strike allowed.

Without the benefit of gloves, cuts are common. And they can lead to doctor-mandated stoppages, which prevent the losing fighter from taking more damage.

UFC star Conor McGregor is a part-owner of the BKFC promotion.

The 31-year-old Masson-Wong, who came out to Slayer's "Raining Blood," looked to score with the jab in a cagey, close first round. The two got busier in the second round with Masson-Wong's face beginning to show damage around her left eye.

Ferea connected with some punches late in the third, another close round. The champion scored with her right hand in the fourth with Masson-Wong failing to do much damage when she closed the gap.

Masson-Wong used the clinch to blunt Ferea's attacks in the fifth round.

Masson-Wong says it normally takes her at least two months to get back to hitting pads after a bare-knuckle bout because of the pounding her hands take.

She needed two stitches after her first bare-knuckle bout and six more from the second. She says most fighters average two stitches an outing.

Both fighters weighed in at 124.6 pounds Thursday, just under the 125-pound limit. Masson-Wong took the weigh-in stage holding a giant pair of scissors, saying "I'm going to cut her head off."

"You're going to sleep," responded Ferea, who arrived with an American flag draped over her shoulders.

The two got physical when they faced off, with Ferea shoving Masson-Wong backwards after the fighters each brushed each other's face with their fist.

Masson-Wong (3-2-0) had won her two previous bouts after losing to Christine (La Abusadora) Vicens in February 2022.

Ferea (9-1-0) defeated fellow American Britain Hart in February 2022 to become the promotion’s inaugural women’s flyweight champion and previously defended the title by dispatching American Taylor (Killa Bee) Starling and current BKFC strawweight champion (Rowdy) Bec Rawlings of Australia (twice).

Ferea has won seven straight — the longest winning streak by a female fighter in BKFC history — since losing to Helen Peralta at BKFC 7 in August 2019.

Masson-Wong divides her time between her native Quebec City and Montreal, where she trains at the Club de Boxe Pound 4 Pound.

A gymnast as a youth, Masson-Wong started boxing at 13 and mixed martial arts at 18. She went 3-2-0 in the TKO and Battlefield Fight League promotions, losing to future UFC fighter Jamey-Lyn Horth in her last outing in February 2020 before the pandemic hit.

Told BKFC was looking for female fighters, she said “Why not?”

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press