On Saturday, Connor Tierney will headline a Utilita Arena show and fight for a shot at the interim world title. Ahead of what is being called 'the biggest fight in bare-knuckle history', the Birmingham fighter shared the 'brutal' reality of the rising sport.
On May 30, Tierney will fight for the interim BKFC welterweight championship against Rico Franco, an opponent who handed him one of his rare losses, stopping him in under a minute back in 2017.
'We're seven years on from my loss in 2017. I'm a different calibre, a different fighter, a different animal. I'm a fully-grown mature man going into this fight,' said Tierney.
For the Weoley Castle warrior, this fight is not about revenge but about cementing a legacy. Fighting in a sport that removes protection, Tierney, 31, spoke to BirminghamLive about the injuries accumulated over his seven-year career.
'I've got mallet finger, broken a middle finger, destroyed a knuckle, broken a metacarpal and chipped the bone off another knuckle. My hands are on their way out, it's part of the parcel. If you can manage it, deal with it and continue to train, you can put it at the back of your head and it doesn't affect you,' he explained.
'Waking up on a cold day, especially in the winter, I feel like my old man who has arthritis. I'm getting out of bed and having to warm my hands up. I think it's a case of the damage has already been done and I do know that. Nothing is going to make them any better, unless we have some new AI technology that can give me some new hands which are functional.'
Tierney's honesty shines through, whether in pre-fight interviews or reviewing a pint of Guinness. While many bare-knuckle fighters pursue professional boxing first, he chose bare-knuckle fighting for the fame. A pioneer of the BKFC organisation, he hopes a win could secure a clash at St Andrew's Stadium.
Despite the sport's rise, Tierney believes there is still a stigma from the professional boxing world. 'I've said it from day one, there's still a lot of snobbery. But I think there is a swerve in opinion where people are starting to realise how brutal this is. It's a completely different sport: no gloves on your hand, sitting on the ropes and soaking up punches. It's a new and unique sport, one I said you can't train for. You can spar for boxing with gloves, you can practice tennis and replicate that, you can't for bare-knuckle because of the cuts and damage. It's very unique and it's very scary.'
'This will be the biggest fight in bare-knuckle history as far as I'm concerned,' he added.
Tierney also addressed misconceptions about fighters: 'I think there's a misconception about the personality, never judge a book by its cover. You look at myself, a quantity surveyor and Birmingham City Council contractor who sits behind a desk all day. There's a lot of speculation about the types of fighters, it's always these bald, big muscular fighters with tattoos who go in there and can't spell. That's the misconception. In reality, I'm one of the most intelligent fighters out there and people still don't realise it's legal.'
From Birmingham City-style shorts to UB40 as his ring music, Tierney pays tribute to home. He predicted how the fight will unfold: 'It'll be the most exciting fight you've ever seen. Fast and exhilarating knockdowns, it's very brutal. You're going to see a lot of silkiness and smoothness amidst the blood and violence.'
