Drop the gloves
Connellsville native Fremd wins BKFC debut
With the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup playoffs it was only fitting for someone with the nickname of “Big Yinz” to take off the gloves for a fight on Friday night.
Connellsville native Josh Fremd, who is currently a middleweight for the MMA promotion Professional Fighters League (PFL), made his debut in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) in style with a first-round knockout in the Cobank Arena at National Western Center for BKFC 88 Denver.
Fremd sent Jared Torgenson to the mat with a right hand at 1:32 of the opening round for a victory in the cruiserweight division. Torgenson was also making his BKFC debut.
Fremd had a 27-10 advantage in punches thrown, and an astounding 20-1 edge in shots landed. He knocked down Torgenson once before the finish.
“I had a reach advantage on him, and that definitely helped, but after wrestling, boxing was my first skill,” Fremd said. “When I had my final football banquet in high school, all the seniors were able to pick a gift, and I asked for a pair of boxing gloves because I couldn’t afford them, and that got me started in the sport.
“This is bare knuckle, so obviously the gloves aren’t needed, but you still need the same technique and approach.”
Fremd has been fighting without gloves since he was back in Connellsville waiting for the activity bus on the way to practice in his other sports.
“It is kind of cathartic if I think about it because a bunch of us would circle up and scrap for two or three minutes before we got the bus to go to practice for baseball, football and wrestling,” Fremd said. “We would run up in between Junior High East and the High School at Connellsville. There wasn’t any bad blood or anything. We just wanted to get our aggression out. It was kind of a full-circle moment for me to fight in the BKFC.”
Fremd’s victory earned him “Performance of the Night” honors for the event.
“Everyone said I was going to love this, and I was built for this,” said Fremd during a press conference following the event. “When that was said, I kind of took offense because I was like, ‘Oh, am I not good at MMA?’ But now I understand. I love this stuff. It was so much fun, and I think I can see myself doing this a couple of more times.”
Fremd, who had six fights in the UFC before being released due to missing weight, had a tough stretch in his life on a personal and professional level before the PFL came calling. Fremd, who is 12-6 in his MMA career with nine wins by stoppage, accepted a fight on March 28 inside the UPMC Events Center on the campus of Robert Morris University at PFL Pittsburgh.
Fremd earned a knockout with 1:03 left in the third round of his middleweight (185 pounds) bout with Jarrah Al-Selawe (21-8, 13 stoppages).
“I went on a little bit of a downward spiral after I got cut from the UFC, which didn’t have anything to do with me being a bad fighter, it was for missing weight,” Fremd said. “That was really tough, but to be able to come back and fight in the greatest city in the world, Pittsburgh, was a dream come true for me. Denver is a close second to Pittsburgh.”
Fremd was glad to win in Denver because he had lost in what has become his second home in his last fight while he was in the UFC.
“I was glad to get that bad taste out of my mouth from my previous fight in Denver,” Fremd said. “It was just one fight, but it was nice to get that ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus.”
Fremd admitted to some concern in not injuring himself due to fighting without the protection of gloves, which can do more damage on the opponent, but also on himself.
“It definitely is different fighting without gloves, and I had a little bit of an injury problem because my hand was a little banged up from my fight in the PFL, but it was just one fight,” Fremd said. “It didn’t hurt as much as I thought, but it is something I would need to get used to, especially if I was going against a top-level guy.”
Fremd earned a four-fight extension in the PFL after his debut victory, so he is still very much engaged in MMA, and he looks forward to getting back in action soon.
“I am going to take everything as it comes right now,” Fremd said. “I would like to be back in action at the end of summer or the beginning of fall. I am going to take a week off and relax here because I have had a couple of months of camp and two fights in less than a month. I would like to make a run in the PFL, and hopefully fight for the belt.”