BKFC 41 Results: Eddie Alvarez Wins by Split Decision in Epic Battle against Chad Mendes, sending him straight to retirement.

Eddie Alvarez is a name that rings a bell in the combat sports community. The former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion has accomplished so much in his illustrious career. But just when you thought he had done it all, he adds another accolade to his already impressive resume – a win in a bare-knuckle fight.

Alvarez made his bare-knuckle debut at BKFC 41 against fellow UFC veteran Chad Mendes, and it was a war. Both fighters landed two knockdowns over five rounds in a back-and-forth battle that ended with a split decision. While Mendes got a 47-46 scorecard from one judge, Alvarez took home the victory with two 47-46 scorecards from the other judges.

“This is a pleasure,” Alvarez said after the fight. “Chad is a f****** dog. I did not expect that. The man hits crazy hard. This is a dog fight in here. I’m convinced right now this is going to be the best sport in the world. BKFC is here to stay.”

In his first bare-knuckle fight, Alvarez was looking to use his reach advantage by throwing a long jab while measuring his shots. But Mendes had other plans and quickly answered back with powerful punches. While Mendes suffered a cut under his right eye, he caught Alvarez with a huge right hand that cracked the former UFC lightweight champion on the chin, dropping him to the canvas for the first knockdown in the fight.

Alvarez managed to get back to his feet and continued to paw ahead with his jab, while Mendes exploded forward and launched huge hooks, gunning for the knockout with every punch thrown. Alvarez got his payback with a short shot that briefly dropped Mendes to the ground, but the veteran featherweight bounced up almost out of frustration.

With the fight heading into the fifth and final round, Alvarez was starting to wear the damage on his face with blood trickling down from a cut over his eye and gushing from his nose. With the fight potentially slipping away, Alvarez opened up with a flurry of punches that overwhelmed Mendes, causing him to fall to the canvas. Mendes managed to get back to his feet, but as soon as the fight restarted, he launched a left-right combination that wobbled Alvarez, causing him to sit down for a split second, which the referee ruled as a knockdown to even the score between the fighters.

After the fight, Mendes offered congratulations to Alvarez and announced his retirement from the sport, saying “I’m officially hanging them up tonight. Thanks for all the awesome memories.”

Alvarez, on the other hand, plans to return to the BKFC ring after a successful debut for the promotion. “I’ll be fighting again,” Alvarez told reporters at the BKFC 41 post-fight news conference. “This training camp for me was like, I wanted to try something new. This is something new for me. I’ve never done this before. But when you take away the wrestling and the kicks and the knees and the elbows – I know my face looks like this, but this is going to go away in two weeks. The training camp was so much more enjoyable than an MMA training camp. Chad would know this and guys who do MMA would know this. The training camp for bareknuckle is so enjoyable.”