BKFC champ Lorenzo Hunt praises Bryce Hall after bare-knuckle debut, offers to work with him again: 'He's a killer'

22/09/2023 18:00

Bryce Hall not only became the first social influencer to compete in a bare-knuckle fight when he debuted at BKFC 48 in August but he also scored a second-round TKO stoppage.

After an abysmal showing in a boxing match two years ago, the 24-year-old TikTok star vowed to make a better showing in his second attempt at combat sports. To prepare for his fight, Hall sought out two-division BKFC champion Lorenzo Hunt to help him get ready and the hard work definitely paid off.

While it's impossible to tell if social influencers are taking fights seriously or not, Hunt learned quickly that Hall was not playing around.

"Bryce was an amazing kid and I enjoyed teaching him," Hunt told MMA Fighting about working with Hall. "But I had to show him the depths that I'm willing to go to get what I got. It's not something that you can just talk about.

"I went underwater with Bryce and I held him down until he thought he was going to die. I looked in his eyes while we were underwater and neither of us could breathe. I stayed there to a psychopathic level. He panicked and then he calmed down and then he came into the psychopathic ass world where you don't even really have to breathe. Once he understood that, everything got easier. There's a level I'm willing to go and in order to follow, you have to be willing to stay. You have to be willing to fight."

Hunt, who makes his return to action at BKFC 50 on Friday, offered nothing but praise for Hall's desire to follow his lead and learn everything he could during a short time spent working together.

"He did not half-ass it in any way, shape or form," Hunt said. "I punched this guy with my bare knuckle to see if he would call the cops. He didn't! He looked at me like I was insane but he didn't. I knew he is not joking. He wants to do this. This isn't a influencer gag. He wants to do this. I began to believe in him the more that we trained, the more that we fought, the more that we ran, the more that we braced, the more we stayed underwater.

"I watched him push himself. He's a man. He's not a little boy. He's not some influencer kid that got rich. No, that's a whole man right there. He's a killer."

While Hall vowed to fight again, it's tough to say if he'll want to test himself in bare-knuckle even after a successful first appearance in BKFC.

For his part, Hunt would welcome the chance to work together again and he believes that Hall could easily get good enough that he could become a force across social influncer boxing or bare knuckle.

"I'd like some real time training with him, not three weeks or two weeks," Hunt said. "I'd like to be able to work with him for a year.

"I'd like to be able to work with him in some regular boxing matches. I'd like to see him dominate the influencer world and become truly confident in his abilities before returning to bare knuckle."