Jade Masson-Wong Establishes Herself as BKFC’s No. 1 Flyweight Contender

Quebec City’s Jade Masson-Wong, 31, started her combat sports career in mixed martial arts. After producing inconsistent results in the cage, Masson-Wong decided to try her hands at bare-knuckle boxing. The transition has felt natural for Masson-Wong, who staked her claim as the No. 1 contender in the women’s flyweight division with a quick knockout of No. 5 ranked Gabrielle Roman.

Masson-Wong bullied Roman, earning a stoppage after just a minute of action. She could press forward and land two big flurries of punches to score knockdowns. The referee waived the fight off after the second knockout. It was a disappointing result for Roman, who had won her previous fight in the promotion against Martyna Krol by knockout. Roman is now 1-1-1 with the promotion. 

Masson-Wong, now 3-1 in the promotion, hopes to get a shot at Christine Ferea for a championship. Ferea is the BKFC’s inaugural champion and has defended the belt three times since she won the championship in a fight with Britain Hart in February 2022. Masson-Wong is happy to have bare-knuckle boxing to pivot to.

Originally, Masson-Wong appeared to have some potential in MMA. MMAfighting latest updates show that Masson-Wong won her first three MMA fights. However, Masson-Wong saw that win streak evaporate quickly. Mandy Bohm halted Masson-Wong’s win streak by submitting her with a rear-naked choke. Masson-Wong also lost her next MMA fight with Jame-Lyn Horth, being knocked out with a third-round body kick.

But Masson-Wong has shown in the BKFC that she may be better in a competition where she is always on her feet. Masson-Wong’s impressive win Saturday night may provide her with a championship opportunity. 

Jeremiah Riggs Back in the Groove

Jeremiah Riggs went nine years between professional bouts. Between the time Riggs left MMA in 2013 and started bare-knuckle boxing in 2022, much had changed in his life and the combat sports world. But Riggs, 41, showed he still has something left in the tank against Sonny Smith.

Smith, a British fighter, had built momentum during his first two BKFC fights with decision victories. But Smith got a lesson in how power can impact fights. Riggs came out and bullied Smith.

Riggs scored a knockdown early in the fight and would finish the fight via TKO just 49 seconds into the bout. Riggs had lost his previous two fights in BKFC and evened his record at 2-2 for his career.

Riggs, a native of Vicksburg, Mississippi, has had a wild career. In addition to trying his hand at MMA, Riggs spent a portion of his career trying to find a way to earn a contract with the WWE in professional wrestling. Riggs competed in the WWE Tough Enough competition in 2011 but was ultimately eliminated in Week Nine.

Riggs’ MMA career saw him finish with a 7-8 record. His abilities did earn him an opportunity to fight in Bellator. However, Riggs struggled on the bigger stage, compiling a 1-3 record during his time with Bellator.

Smith, who was 2-1 as an amateur MMA fighter, will be heading back to the drawing board. Losing to an older, veteran fighter isn’t anything to be ashamed of. But Smith will want to put together a better effort going forward.

Surmacz Earns a Late Stoppage

Stan Surmacz, who trains out of Edmonton, was waiting five years for another chance to fight professionally. During that time period, Surmacz had three boxing matches, two conventional and one bare-knuckle fight, canceled for various reasons. When Surmacz had his first opportunity to fight in BKFC Saturday night, he let his frustrations loose.

Surmacz was a little too eager to hit his opponent. In the first round, Surmacz was deducted two points while hitting his opponent, Reuben Roundstone, while he was down. While Roundstone was able to survive the early blitz, he didn’t mount enough resistance to win the fight.

Roundstone got dropped twice in the third round, and the fight was stopped. Online boxing news shows Surmacz may have found a new home in the BKFC. Surmacz also had to take some time away from fighting in his career to focus on his health. In 2018, Surmacz announced he needed to step away from competition because of issues with his heart.

Stuve Wins All-Canadian Affair

Andrew Stuve now has two professional fights under his belt. In December 2023, Stuve made a successful conventional boxing debut by knocking out Jorge Flores Morales in the third round in La Paz, Mexico. Stuve didn’t need to put that much work in to down fellow Canadian Jason Kelly in his first bare-knuckle match.

Stuve scored a TKO victory in 1:11 of the first round Saturday night. Stuve, 27, seemed like a more seasoned professional fighter than Kelly. Kelly is 3-5-1 as a professional boxer. While Stuve doesn’t have much professional experience, Stuve found some moderate success in the amateur ranks.

Stuve, who trains under Ryan Ford, put up a 6-2 record in amateur boxing. With one win under his belt, Stuve will now have an opportunity to climb the ranks quickly if he can maintain the power he showed against Kelly and stay active.

Lucanas Earns First-Round Stoppage

The judges could comfortably take the night off for BKFC’s first Canadian event. They were still in attendance, but no one needed to ask for their opinion on who won any of the fights. Chad Lucanas continued the trend of earning first-round stoppages by knocking out Trai Santos in 1:50.

Here’s a look at the rest of the results not mentioned above:

•  Samuel Polk win by knockout over Jake Craig, Round 1 1:12
• Hasan Alghanim win by knockout over Dalton Shtybel, Round 2 1:05
• Tyler Tremblett win by TKO over Donnie Tice, Round 2 1:24
• Robert Desharnais win by KO over Desmond Johnson, Round 1 :34
• Matt Socholotiuk win by TKO over Adam De Freitas, Round 3 1:13

Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com.

By Dean McHugh.