Tomorrow night in Marbella, two of the best known personalities in MMA media will make the bold move into bare knuckle boxing.
Oscar Willis, the main man at Conor McGregor’s news outlet The Mac Life, will take on Misfits Boxing lead commentator Ben ‘The Bane’ Davis at BKFC Spain. The pair’s bout will open the DAZN portion of the massive event, which is being promoted by McGregor himself.
This means that they will make history of a sort, bringing one of the original forms of combat sport to arguably today’s biggest platform for fights. And while they have promised “the lowest quality fight in BKFC history,” they have been actively training to put on a show.
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Who are Ben Davis and Oscar Willis?
Ben ‘The Bane’ Davis has been a personality on MMA Twitter for years, going viral with memes and jokes all while building his career as a play-by-play commentator. He has worked on a number of shows that air on UFC Fight Pass, including Anthony Pettis’ promotion APFC as well as Cage Fury.
But perhaps Davis’ biggest break came in September of 2023 when he was called upon by Misfits Boxing to face Anderson Silva’s son Gabriel Silva at X-Series 009. Having never boxed before, he underwent an intensive training camp but was viciously knocked out in the first round of their bout.
However, he impressed on the microphone during that week and ended up joining the commentary desk that night. He has since made himself the voice of the crossover boxing promotion, leading their broadcasts on DAZN.
In the meantime, he has fought once more on Karate Combat where he landed his first victory over Twitter troll ‘Most Wanted’. He had also competed in grappling previously, losing to black belt Brad Boulton in a matter of seconds.
As for Oscar Willis, he has been the man behind monstrous numbers for The Mac Life; which is a media outlet owned by Conor McGregor. He hosts the show Pub Talk with UFC star Dan Hooker, who will corner him in Spain.
Willis famously had an MMA fight in November of 2022 as part of the Train Alta programme. He viciously dropped Jeremiah Benavidez late in the game on route to a win by unanimous decision, and has been keen to organise a fight ever since.
Why are Ben Davis and Oscar Willis fighting?
The pair are friendly, but have agreed to fight under full BKFC rules without any gloves after Willis was initially approached. The promotion previously held influencer fights where competitors wore gloves and competed in essentially white collar rules.
But promoter David Feldman wasn’t interested in keeping the gimmick going. This has meant that anyone wanting to compete in a celebrity bout on BKFC must do it under full bare knuckle boxing rules.
Only one influencer in history has done it thus far; Bryce Hall stopped Gee Perez in August of last year. Davis and Willis have both said that they are likely to retire after the bout, although the latter seems more keen on another fight if someone were to step up.
Conor McGregor and KSI have picked their side in MMA media BKFC fight
The bout between Davis and Willis has captured the imaginations of both the MMA and crossover boxing communities. Star names have come out in support of both, with some A-Listers including Conor McGregor and KSI showing their interest in watching.
McGregor himself will be ringside, and has put his backing behind Willis, saying on a recent livestream: “Mac Life’s Oscar Willis is fighting on the f***ing bare knuckle, mad b******. He’s fighting another little journalist.
“Two journalists going at it, probably don’t like their views or something. I don’t know what the gig is but they’re going to fight in a bare knuckle on my show. They came to me and said ‘do you want to do it’, the lads had said ‘what do you think?’ I said ‘I don’t know’.
“I kind of just left it at that, I had the title fights and what not, and then the lads got matched, fair play to them. I’ll be there to watch it, yup Oscar.”
Davis hasn’t been without support of his own, however. During a recent Misfits event he was commentating alongside KSI, who filmed a video showing his side of the bout.
“Oscar, you’re getting f***ed up bro,” KSI said in the brief message shared to social media. “You ain’t ready for the smoke. My brother here is about to kill your a**, good luck.”
Dana White warned Oscar Willis and Ben Davis not to fight
However, not everyone in combat sports has been so keen on the bout. UFC CEO Dana White recommended that Willis, with whom he regularly does interviews, warned both men not to do it during a recent press conference.
“What? Don’t do it,” he laughed when he was asked about the bout. “What? Is that why he’s not here, he’s always here. So he is fighting bare-knuckle, when?”
However, once he was informed about the matchup and why the pair were fighting by journalist Amy Kaplan, he agreed to watch live. “This Saturday?” He asked. “Well, he’s a great kid and I wish him all the luck in the world, hope he doesn’t get his face busted up. Who’s he fighting? What! Holy s***, alright.”
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