BKFC champion Britain Hart faces loads of challenges in her bare-knuckle combating profession, however her subsequent impediment could be the hardest.
On Friday, Hart returns to her hometown of Salem, Va., the place she defends her strawweight title in opposition to Melanie Shah in the primary occasion. Simply over one month later, she already has scheduled her subsequent struggle when she faces Po Denman on a BKFC card in Thailand, which takes place Nov. 4.
Whereas Hart isn’t the primary to guide back-to-back matchups, she could be the one champion defending her title in an extremely quick time span.
“That’s how I introduced it to some folks to place them within the loop — I began out with, ‘I do know it is a dangerous concept,’” Hart informed MMA Combating. “I do know I can do it. I do know I can do the unimaginable arduous issues. I imagine I’m actually chasing this legacy, this second and this chance to be legendary.
“I really feel like I’ve had transient little moments, however I nonetheless really feel like individuals are questioning precisely who I’m. I don’t really feel like all people is aware of precisely who I’m. I really feel like after I die, I need to depart that clear impression on who’s Britain Hart, and that’s me. I do arduous, unimaginable issues.”
Based on Hart, the chance to defend her title twice in 4 weeks simply got here all the way down to timing and alternative. She had requested BKFC to return before later after combating in March.
Whereas ready, she began working a brand new job as an electrician. However then out of nowhere, BKFC referred to as with a proposal for September. Then the promotion shocked her with one other struggle.
“I obtained the Virginia struggle, and it was cool, I used to be sort of begging for it,” Hart defined. “As soon as I obtained that struggle, they’re like, ‘Yeah, we’ve obtained nice information, we’re sending you to Thailand.’
“I used to be like, ‘Oh cool, when?’ They mentioned, ‘Nov. 4.’ I’m like, ‘What?’
“Right here I’m simply begging to f****** struggle, and so they mentioned they had been going to place me on the New Mexico card [in August], and so they mentioned, ‘No, we’re going to place you on the Miami card.’ Then they mentioned, ‘No, we’re going to place you on the Virginia card.’ I simply need to struggle. I simply need to get in there and struggle, which is why I obtained an electrician job within the first place. As a result of I’ve obtained to do one thing. Then the hit me with that struggle [in Virginia] after which Thailand in 5 weeks. I’m like you understand what? I’m going to do it.”
Regardless of her championship reign and participation in a number of the highest-profile fights for ladies in BKFC — together with wins over UFC veterans Paige VanZant and Bec Rawlings — Hart appears like she nonetheless has a lot extra to perform. Combating twice in such a brief time frame will put any fighter in rarified air, however doing that as a champion appears virtually unimaginable.
“It’s exceptional to take fights back-to-back,” Hart mentioned. “Champs don’t do it. However I do it as a result of I’m Britain Hart, and I’m going to take my belt over to a distinct nation, and I’m going to return again with it. That’s simply what I’ve determined to do, and I’m going to do it.”
In fact, Hart can’t suppose an excessive amount of about Thailand till she will get by the title struggle on Friday. The matchup serves as a homecoming; she’s going to compete at an area simply minutes away from the place she labored beforehand labored as a clerk at a grocery retailer, a bartender, and even in a tree removing service in the identical neighborhood.
Now, she’s headlining a bare-knuckle combating occasion along with her identify on the marquee.
“To return full circle from doing these jobs to being the primary occasion and as a feminine in one of many quickest rising fight sports activities, it’s actually stunning,” Hart mentioned. “I’ve modified my entire life round, and I’m doing it in a spot the place I used to be struggling and attempting to outlive, and now I’m on the highest of the mountain.”
“I haven’t talked about [the fight in Thailand] in any respect, as a result of I don’t need to jinx it. I haven’t even actually completed paperwork, any conversations to the Thailand struggle, as a result of I need to concentrate on the Virginia struggle, and I believe I’ll be rewarded in the long run. Actually, I’m simply at first concerning the Virginia struggle. After that struggle occurs, we’ll return to work. For now, the beginning and the end is Sept. 29.”
