Event: BKB 48: Night of Four Kings
Date: November 22, 2025
Location: Charles F. Dodge Center, Pembroke Pines, Florida
Broadcast: VICE, TalkSPORT, Telemundo Deportes Ahora
Title: Vacant BKB Super Cruiserweight Championship

When Marko Martinjak vacated the BKB Super Cruiserweight title to focus on the Bridgerweight division, he opened the door for two undefeated fighters to settle who deserves the crown. Yordan Fuentes brings a perfect 4-0 bare knuckle record built on length and distance management. Julian Fernandez enters with a 2-0 bare knuckle slate, but more importantly, a 16-4 professional boxing resume that includes facing legitimate heavyweight contenders Frank Sanchez and Arslanbek Makhmudov. This fight comes down to whether Fuentes can keep Fernandez at the end of his punches, or whether Fernandez’s experience against elite opposition translates into breaking down a fighter who relies on reach.

Tale of the Tape: The Physical Matchup

Yordan Fuentes

• Height: 6’3″
• Weight: 198.2 lbs
• Record: 4-0 (4 KOs in bare knuckle)
• Style: Long-range boxer, pull-back combinations

Julian Fernandez

• Height: 6’4″
• Weight: 199.1 lbs
• Reach: 80.3″
• Record: 16-4 (boxing), 2-0 (bare knuckle)
• Style: Pressure fighter, compact footwork, body attack

The Fuentes Formula

Fuentes has built his undefeated bare knuckle record around one clear advantage: the ability to create and maintain distance. He pulls back beautifully, using his length to get out of range while simultaneously rattling off combinations. Opponents step in expecting to land, but Fuentes is already gone, resetting at distance to fire again.

His chin holds up under pressure, which allows him to commit fully to this style without worrying about getting caught during his exits. The pull-back combinations are sharp and well-timed, catching opponents as they step forward into punches. In his most recent fight at BYB 34, Fuentes dropped Steve Pasche three times in under a minute, finishing by first-round knockout.

But there’s a significant weakness that shows up once opponents close distance. Fuentes doesn’t have legitimate inside defense. When the gap closes and he can’t pull back anymore, he defaults to grabbing and holding. Against fighters who lack the footwork to stay on him or the experience to capitalize on this flaw, it works well enough. Against someone with Fernandez’s resume, it becomes a problem.

The Fernandez Advantage

Fernandez brings something Fuentes hasn’t faced in bare knuckle: legitimate high-level boxing experience. His losses to Frank Sanchez and Arslanbek Makhmudov weren’t flukes or bad nights. Sanchez knocked him out of the ring in the seventh round. Makhmudov stopped him in the third. These weren’t close competitive fights.

But here’s what matters: Fernandez survived long enough in both fights to learn from world-class heavyweights. He’s felt what elite pressure looks like, what happens when someone cuts off the ring properly, and how to survive when things go wrong. That experience shows in his footwork, which is compact and efficient rather than wild and reaching.

The body work stands out immediately. Fernandez mixes it into his combinations naturally, attacking the midsection to slow down movement and set up openings upstairs. Against a tall fighter who relies on pulling straight back, those body shots take away mobility and force uncomfortable positions. You can’t pull back effectively when your core is compromised.

His bare knuckle record might only show two fights, but the TKO victory over Lino Sanchez Orozco demonstrated his ability to finish. More importantly, his boxing background means he understands angles, timing, and ring generalship at a level most bare knuckle fighters haven’t developed yet.

The Path to Victory

For Fuentes: Keep Fernandez at the end of his punches. Use lateral movement to prevent getting walked into corners. Land combinations from range and immediately reset before Fernandez can close distance. Make it an ugly fight when forced inside, using grabbing to buy time and separate. Rely on the referee’s willingness to break clinches quickly.

For Fernandez: Cut the ring methodically using the footwork that got him to the Sanchez and Makhmudov fights. Force Fuentes to work inside where his defense breaks down. Attack the body early and often to limit his ability to pull back effectively. Stay patient when Fuentes grabs, knowing the accumulation of inside work will slow him down over five rounds. Don’t chase, position.

The Bare-Knuckle Factor

This title fight happens over five three-minute rounds in the Trigon, BKB’s signature fighting pit. The smaller fighting area compared to a traditional boxing ring benefits Fernandez. Less space means fewer places for Fuentes to retreat, and the Trigon’s design naturally creates the kind of pressure situations where Fernandez thrives.

Without gloves, every body shot lands harder and does more cumulative damage. Fuentes’s pull-back style requires core strength and mobility. Three rounds of sustained body work will compromise both. His grabbing defense becomes less effective when he’s working to protect his midsection.

The Pick

Fuentes will have success early when his length creates problems and his pull-back combinations land from range. The first round might even be his as Fernandez works to close distance and establish position. But boxing experience matters, especially against fighters with limited defensive options inside.

Fernandez has solved tougher puzzles than Fuentes. His footwork will close distance round by round. His body work will slow down the pull-back that makes Fuentes effective. And when Fuentes defaults to grabbing because he has no other inside defense, Fernandez will work through it the way fighters do when they’ve been in deep water before.

Expect Fernandez to take over in the middle rounds as his pressure accumulates and Fuentes’s mobility decreases. The grabbing will buy time but won’t win rounds. By the championship rounds, Fernandez will be landing the cleaner, harder shots while Fuentes struggles to maintain distance.

Winner: Julian Fernandez by unanimous decision to become BKB Super Cruiserweight Champion

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