At the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, the hallway outside the fight space narrows into a familiar pre-show funnel—fighters moving in opposite directions, staff checking lists, cameras catching final looks. On Friday, March 20, 2026, bkfc 87 Hollywood centers on a featherweight title bout that is as much about how to win under this ruleset as it is about who hits harder: Kai Stewart faces Nico Gaffie at 7 p. m. ET.
What is happening at Bkfc 87 Hollywood on Friday night?
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is staging BKFC 87: Stewart vs. Gaffie, live from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla. The main event is a featherweight title fight between champion Kai Stewart and Nico Gaffie. Stewart, a Montana native turned Spokane fighter, is defending his BKFC featherweight title for the fifth time on Friday.
Stewart has been the ruler of the BKFC featherweight division since June 2023. He won the title with a unanimous decision over Louie Lopez on June 9, 2023. His most recent defense ended in another unanimous decision, this time against Tommy Strydom at BKFC 72 in Dubai on April 5.
Across from him stands Gaffie, described as the European featherweight champion. In one recent result, he came off a first-round stoppage of Jelle Zeegers at BKFC 83 in Rome on Oct. 25 for the European featherweight title. Another listing frames him as a fellow BKFC champ entering Friday’s fight with a different record line, but the shared thread remains: he arrives with a reputation for ending nights early.
How does Kai Stewart describe the fight—and what does the ruleset reward?
Stewart’s quotes sketch a champion who thinks in narrative and in mechanics at the same time. “Storyline is what makes superstars, ” Kai Stewart said. “I’m going to go with the most exciting storyline every time. ” In his telling, the matchup is also a test of who can impose a plan, not merely who can swing hardest.
Though he started boxing in 2021, Stewart said he still views himself as developing: “I am so new in striking that I’m still just fundamentally green, so that’s what we grinded on (for this fight camp), ” he said. The point is not humility for its own sake; it is a window into how he expects the fight to be won.
Stewart has a wrestling background, and he frames that experience as an advantage in a promotion where clinch work is allowed but fighters cannot go to the ground. He leans heavily on clinches to do damage—something he calls rare in the promotion—and argues that many viewers misunderstand what matters. “A common misconception with the BKFC is that it’s not boxing – it’s fighting, ” Stewart said, describing BKFC as “the sweet spot between MMA and boxing. ”
For Stewart, the math of risk is central. “I’d rather land a bunch of little shots and keep myself safe than plant my feet trying to go for a knockout, but also give this guy a chance to land something silly, ” he said. “There’s a lot of ways to make sure your opponent doesn’t get that lucky punch that can end your night. ” In that sense, bkfc becomes a contest of pace, position, and damage over time—especially with every bout on the card scheduled for five rounds of two minutes each.
Who else is on the card, and how can fans watch?
The co-main event features heavyweights Leonardo Perdomo and Rashad Coulter. Perdomo is listed as unbeaten and most recently stopped Corey Willis in the third round at BKFC 85 at the same venue on Dec. 5. Coulter last fought on Oct. 21, 2023, when he was knocked out by a left hook from DJ Linderman in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
A featured bout puts bantamweight Bryan Duran against Derek Perez. Duran comes off a majority draw with Robbie Peralta at BKFC 78 in Hollywood on July 12, after previously losing a title shot against Stewart in June 2024. Perez stopped Rick Caruso in the third round of their fight at BKFC 75 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on June 6.
The card also includes a women’s strawweight bout between Rosalinda Rodriguez and Shelby Cannon. Rodriguez stopped Gabrielle Roman at 1: 08 of the third round at BKFC Fight Night in Philadelphia on July 25. Cannon lost a unanimous decision to Taylor Starling at BKFC 79 in Sturgis, South Dakota, on Aug. 2.
For viewers, the event has multiple broadcast descriptions. One listing places the fights at 7 p. m. ET with the card available on fubo Sports Network and fubo Latino Network. Another outlines a split: a preliminary card starting at 7 p. m. ET, followed by a main card starting at 8 p. m. ET on BKFC TV. The weigh-ins took place Thursday, Mar. 19, as fighters hit the scales ahead of Friday night’s card.
By the time the doors settle and the first bell approaches in Hollywood, the center of gravity is still the same: Stewart’s insistence that pace and clinch work can steer a fight, and Gaffie’s promise—implicit in his recent stoppage and “knockout artist” label—that one clean moment can erase a plan. In bkfc, the question waits under the lights: does the night belong to the champion’s rules, or to the challenger’s finish?
