Fireworks come a day early for Philly fighting fans at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s Liberty Brawl

Less than 24 hours before Philadelphia Stadium (aka Lincoln Financial Field) celebrates America’s 250th birthday with the city’s final FIFA World Cup match, fighting fans made their way across the street to Xfinity Mobile Arena to celebrate a day early with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s Liberty Brawl.

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Liberty Brawl, a fight card dedicated to the celebration of America, gave the fans in attendance early fireworks with seven knockouts, which resulted in a big night for Philly fighters.

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Eight local fighters decorated the BKFC Liberty Brawl card: Philly natives Maxiono Griffin, Johnny Garbarino, Cody Russell, Zedekiah Montanez, Matthew Turnbull, and Pat Sullivan, Levittown native Lex Ludlow, and Chester native Anthony Pagan.

“I’m a big Lex Ludlow guy,” said 37-year-old New Jersey native Michael Barbour. “He’s a good dude. He’s got a good story. We came to support Lex.

“I’m from Jersey, but I appreciate the energy at any event. So when the local guys come out, like Lex, [Johnny] Garbarino, seeing the crowd go wild, it’s awesome. Say what you want about Philly, they love their sports. They love their local guys, and they really support them. So, as a fight fan, I really appreciate that.”

All eight of the local fighters walked out victorious, including fan favorites Garbarino and Ludlow. Garbarino remained undefeated after defeating Mike Richman by unanimous decision, which led to some boos from the crowd.

Afterward, Garbarino revealed he couldn’t get the knockout after injuring his right hand.

Meanwhile, Ludlow stole the show — finishing his opponent in nine seconds before cutting a wrestling-inspired promo calling out Mike Perry and Darren Till.

On the precipice of Independence Day, Livi Pack, 16, and Maddox Hoefler, 16, wandered through the concourse in American flag overalls with their faces painted in stars and stripes.

“We wanted to do something that shows our pride in our country,” Hoefler said. “So, we decided to … paint our faces. Obviously, we’re not artists but we had a fun time doing it. We just love our country.”

Pack added: “It’s America’s 250th birthday. So we got to do our big one. I’m very American. I love to show my pride, even if politics are a mess right now. I’m still true to who I am. So I just wanted to do the most.”

For the country’s 250th birthday, it was only fitting that the card’s main event featured a USA vs. the United Kingdom matchup. Austin Trout, a Texas native and former World Boxing Association light middleweight champion, faced the U.K.’s Ben Bonner.

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To get the crowd going, Trout made quite the entrance with a walkout inspired by Apollo’s entrance in Rocky IV. But he had some help from the Sixers Stixers and the tune of James Brown’s “Living in America,” before ultimately suffering a similar fate — getting knocked out in the second round.

Liberty Brawl was the promotion’s third event at Xfinity Mobile Arena — it made its debut at the stadium in January 2025 with KnuckleMania V, where it set a local modern day combat sports record with 17,762 people in attendance. Since then, it’s continued to bring Philly fight fans more action.

“I’ve been a fan of BKFC for a couple years now,” Pack said. “I went to Knucklemania last year, so I had to come back to Philly because everybody’s here. We got to support Cannoli. We got to support Brit. … I think the BKFC is absolutely amazing. I think it can be bigger than the UFC, no doubt. Dave Feldman, keep doing what you do. Thank you for putting on these amazing shows for us.”

The action in Philly continues next month when the UFC makes its highly anticipated return to the city for its first major championship event in the city in 15 years.

“The [UFC and BKFC] crowds are a little different. UFC fans are very hardcore,” Barbour said. “Bare knuckle people, people of Philly streets, will come here, and they’ll just fight people in the stands while they’re watching these fights. So that’s a big difference. UFC has some good fans, but there’s different types of caliber fans for Bare knuckle.”

Two title fights already have been announced — Islam Makhachev will defend his welterweight title against Ian Machado Garry, and Mackenzie Dern will defend her women’s strawweight title for the first time against Gillian Robertson.

The last time the UFC was in town, there wasn’t a local fighter on the card, despite the city’s deep roster of talent, although Philly fighter-turned-broadcaster Paul Felder was in the booth. This time around, Eddie Alvarez, a former UFC champion and Kensington native, hopes it will be different.

“We need our hometown guys,” Alvarez said. “We need Sean Brady. We need Joe Pyfer. We need Pat Sabatini. We need Philadelphia’s best, Philadelphia’s own on those UFC cards. And, sadly they’re not. I don’t know why they do it that way, but they’re not. I don’t know if anybody Philadelphia homegrown is on that Aug. 15 card.”

West Philly native Jeremiah Wells, a standout wrestler at Overbrook, currently is scheduled to face Myktybek Orolbai.

BKFC made history on Friday night, hosting the promotion’s first one-round war, in which two fighters battle it out in one two-minute round. Chester’s Pagan walked out victorious over Zach Pannell.