UFC veteran Brad Pickett to make Bare Knuckle Boxing debut

Retired MMA veteran Brad Pickett announced on his Instagram page that he makes his Bare Knuckle Boxing debut on March 30.

Former UFC and WEC veteran Brad “One Punch” Pickett has announced his return to combat sports, as he’ll be making his Bare Knuckle Boxing debut on March 30.

Pickett made the official announcement via his Instagram. BKB also confirmed his debut, which will take place at BKB 16 at The O2 in London.

Pickett was last in competitive combat sports action back in March 2017 at UFC London. Despite a successful performance in the first two rounds of his fight with Marlon Vera, Pickett ultimately lost the fight by TKO with a little over a minute to go, ending his professional MMA run with a record of 25-14.

Pickett competed in boxing early in his life before taking up MMA. After fighting in his home country of England for the majority of the first half of his MMA career, during which he went 17-4 and mainly competed for Cage Rage, Pickett debuted with the WEC in December 2009 at WEC 45. There, he scored a second-round submission of Kyle Dietz before picking up probably the biggest win of his career — a unanimous decision win over future UFC flyweight king Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson at WEC 48 in April 2010.

UFC President Dana White has previously cited Pickett as being one of his favorite fighters to watch, despite never challenging for a UFC or WEC title or headlining a card. The English MMA fighter was known for his aggressive style, trying to put on the best fight or get the most spectacular finish possible, even if it meant putting himself at risk.

To his credit, Pickett demonstrated that by raking up seven performance bonuses during the course of his UFC/WEC career — five times for Fight of the Night, and one time each for Submission of the Night and Knockout of the Night. But he did not have the greatest success in the UFC, as he went 5-9 in the organization and failed to get back-to-back victories after 2012.

In fact, Pickett lost six of the last seven bouts of his MMA career. In addition to the loss to Vera, he has suffered defeat in the UFC against the likes of Renan Barao, Eddie Wineland, Michael McDonald, Ian McCall, Thomas Almeida and Urijah Faber (in Faber’s retirement bout). Of Pickett’s 14 losses, he was finished in eight.

No opponent has been announced as of yet, but BKB’s post seems to promise that announcement will come next week when tickets for the event go on sale. BKB’s post also hints he will be facing a “50 fight gloved pro.”