Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship returns to Hawai‘i on Saturday when BKFC Fight Night Honolulu: Pitolo vs. Coltrane opens at 5 p.m. at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, with Maki Pitolo facing Doug Coltrane in the main event. Pitolo, a Mākaha native, will make his BKFC debut after six UFC fights, while Coltrane enters with a 3-2 record in the promotion.
The Honolulu card stands out even by BKFC standards: all 13 bouts will feature at least one fighter from Hawai‘i. That local-heavy lineup gives the organization a rare island showcase and puts a homegrown name at the top of the bill in a sport that has built its identity around bare-knuckle combat, with fighters wearing taped wrists and thumbs but no gloves over the knuckles.
Founded by David Feldman in 2018, BKFC opened with a trio of cards in Wyoming and Mississippi before spreading to dozens of states and five countries, including Thailand, Bulgaria, England, Canada and Montenegro. The move into Honolulu comes as the company keeps widening its footprint far beyond the mainland, and Feldman has said Hawai‘i had been on the organization’s radar for years.
Feldman said he believed the islands were a natural fit for the sport because of the local fighting culture and the number of strong promotions already operating there. He said the challenge was finding the right partner, and credited TJay Thompson, who works with Bellator and runs promotions of his own in Hawai‘i, for helping the event come together and smoothing out logistical issues that proved easier than expected.
The fight card also arrives in the middle of a busy stretch for the promotion, which Feldman said includes back-to-back weekends in Hawai‘i and Australia and three events in seven days. BKFC fights are scheduled for two five-minute rounds, giving Saturday’s Honolulu show a short, intense format built for quick finishes and little margin for error. For Pitolo, it is a homecoming and a new beginning at the same time, with a local crowd watching to see whether a former UFC veteran can make an immediate mark in bare knuckle boxing.
