If all goes according to plan, John Dodson’s 27-month bare-knuckle drought will end Oct. 17.
The Albuquerque native is scheduled to face Jamel Herring that night in Newark, New Jersey, BKFC, the bare-knuckle sport’s most successful promotional firm, announced on Sunday.
Dodson (4-0-1 bare-knuckle, 3-0-1 BKFC), the reigning BKFC flyweight (125-pound champion), would be moving up a weight class to challenge Herring (2-0) for the organization’s bantamweight (135-pound) belt.
Dodson hasn’t fought in BKFC competition since March 29, 2024, when he drew with Dagoberto Aguero at Tingley Coliseum. Three months later, he defeated Takaki Soya by unanimous decision in a bare-knuckle fight in Japan.
Ricky Kottenstette, Dodson’s agent, confirmed the matchup via text but said there remain contractual details to be resolved.
“Hoping to sign his final three-fight deal this week,” Kottenstette wrote.
Kottenstette said Chelsea Dodson, John’s wife and a recent BKFC signee, will not make her debut on the Oct. 17 card.
“I won’t have them on the same card,” he wrote.
Unlike Dodson, who moved to bare-knuckle after an outstanding MMA career, Herring, 40, is a former Olympic boxer and a former World Boxing Organization junior lightweight (130-pound) champion. Herring made his BKFC debut with a victory by unanimous decision over Matt Guymon on Jan. 17 of this year, then defeated Michael Larrimore by unanimous decision to claim the previously vacant bantamweight title.
Dodson, 41, best known for his quickness as an MMA fighter — earning the nickname “The Magician” — has been proven to be a difficult challenge as a bare-knuckle fighter. His three BKFC victories, all first-round stoppages, lasted a total of 4 minutes, 10 seconds.
In his draw with Aguero, Dodson scored a knockdown in the first round but was floored once in each of the second and third rounds. Needing to win the fourth and fifth rounds on the official scorecards to salvage a draw, he did so.
Some fans were expecting a sixth “overtime” round to settle things, but it turned out New Mexico Athletic Commission rules do not provide for it.
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