Frank Tate jumped from the prelims to the main event on short notice, replacing an injured Dillon Cleckler in the BKFC 17 main event, where he dominated and stopped Josh Burns in the third round.
There was some controversy in the first round when Burns (5-5, 5 KO) went down, which appeared to be more of a slip than a true knockdown. But what happened from there was not controversial. Tate (1-1-1, 1 KO) repeatedly caught Burns and dropped him hard in the second, with Burns going back to the corner looking positively shell-shocked at the power in Tate’s right hand.
Tate finished things at 1:02 of round three after two more knockdowns, when referee Chris Young rightly called it off. It’s a huge win for the 45-year-old Tate, who was the hometown underdog and made a big chance really count, and showed respect to Burns after the fight, too.
“Josh Burns is a warrior, he’s been a warrior and I love him, man,” Tate said. “We’re gonna be buds. We’re buds already! I respect him.”
Stamps (2-2, 2 KO) played football at Alabama from 2004-06, he wasn’t a standout or anything though BKFC would have you believe he won the Nagurski because it’s something unique among their roster.
Stamps lost his last fight when he moved up to heavyweight to challenge Joey Beltran and got stopped in the fourth round of a fight he was winning on the cards. Here, he was back down around 180 and Richman (2-0, 2 KO) just wrecked him with power shots. Stamps towers over Richman, but a right hand wobbled Stamps, and then Stamps was on the canvas. Stamps got up, but he slipped as they re-engaged and said his shoulder was injured, so the fight was over in 71 seconds.
