With seven championship fights on the docket, there were no shortage of belts to hand out at BFL 58 on Saturday night in Coquitlam, B.C.
Seven title fights on one card is an unusually loaded lineup even by BFL's standards — the promotion has a long habit of stacking its numbered events, but BFL 58 was top-heavy in a way that made almost every bout meaningful for the Lower Mainland's pecking order.
In the main event of the evening, Dustin Joynson (now 5-0) and Caio Machado (now 1-1-1) went the full 25 minutes in their heavyweight title clash, with Joynson coming out on top with a unanimous decision.
Heavyweight fights that go the distance are rare enough to be their own story — twenty-five minutes of big-man attrition is the kind of war that tends to follow both fighters into their next camps.
While this is Joynson’s second straight title in two different promotions, he said this win has far more meaning to him than just the belt.
“It feels amazing. I dedicated this fight to my twin brother who passed away last summer,” said Joynson in an interview.
The backstory reframes the whole result — fighting through grief and a recurring back injury to go five rounds for a belt is the kind of win that means more than the hardware.
“It was really hard for me, and I had to pull out of that last fight. It was my injured back, but a big portion of it was also my brother passing.”
Midway through the fight, Joynson said he strained his back badly again while attempting a takedown, which forced him to alter his game-plan, and try to keep Machado tied up against the cage instead.
A recurring back problem in a grappling-heavy heavyweight is a real career question mark — takedowns and top pressure are exactly the movements a strained back makes hardest to repeat for five rounds.
With his back continuing to give him trouble, Joynson said he needs to see a specialist to see if anything can be done going forward.
“If it keeps doing this, I’m not going to be able to fight,” said Joynson.
“I like grappling and I like the takedowns. It makes me feel safer. I don’t want to be a meathead and just go start trading punches.”
The Real Champion
In a battle for the interim amateur flyweight title, Indroop Virk (now 3-0) put on a dominant performance, taking a unanimous decision against the number-one ranked flyweight in Canada, Francis Tiapis (now 5-1).
Virk's interim flyweight title was the night's other headline result — a dominant decision over a top Canadian at 125 pounds that immediately put him in the conversation for the real belt.
Virk said he was happy with his performance overall, and said he was able to use his size to his advantage.
“I knew I was going to be way stronger and bigger than him coming in, and that my striking would be better too,” said Virk in an interview.
“I thought I was going to finish him, but he was tough. It was hard to submit him or knock him out.”
With this undoubtedly being the biggest win of his career, Virk said this should firmly place him among the best in Canada.
And when it comes to battling current flyweight champion Dion Wu for his belt, Virk said he’s already the champion.
“The real 125-pound champ is me. I just took out the number one guy in Canada,” said Virk.
“He should come fight me. I shouldn’t have to go fight him.”
The callout logic is sound — an interim champion who just beat the division's top-ranked fighter has a reasonable claim that the undisputed champion should come to him.
In other championship bout action, Daniel Richard, Dalton Duperreault, Gio Platon, Dario Sinagoga and Athena Stratis all also left with belts around their waists.
The rest of the title slate rounded out a busy night for the promotion's championship picture across multiple divisions.
Justin Daley, Dakota Angel, Harkirat Nijer, Andrey Vasilyev, and Kevin Giroux were all victorious in preliminary action.
