Bare knuckle: Wright, East headlining fights at BYB Extreme

Javon Wright is making up for lost time.

Time is something Cody East is determined not to waste.

On Saturday, East and Wright are scheduled to fight on a BYB Extreme bare-knuckle card at Revel Entertainment Center — not against each other, given a roughly 100-pound disparity in weight between the two.

Wright, a native of St. Louis who now lives in Long Beach, California, is scheduled to face Argentina’s Walter Raul Saravia in the night’s main event, with the vacant BYB welterweight title at stake.

East, a three-time former New Mexico state wrestling champion at Los Lunas and Belen high schools, is matched against Hawaii’s Dylan Rush in a heavyweight co-main event.

It’s not clear, perhaps even to him at this point, how many fights East has had during his professional career. The verifiable record shows 23 MMA fights (16-7), seven boxing matches (6-1), two Muay Thai fights (1-1), one kickboxing fight (1-0) and one bare-knuckle fight (1-0).

That same record shows East as having fought five times in 2024 — three times as a boxer, once as an MMA fighter, once in bare-knuckle — and having won all five.

East says that’s not the complete list.

“The last 12 months I’ve fought seven times in three different styles,” he said on Thursday during a media event at Jackson-Wink MMA. “But bare knuckle is my favorite.”

And why wouldn’t it be? In his bare-knuckle and BYB Extreme debut in Denver on Sept. 21, East demolished Lucas Kailing by first-round KO.

“I love it,” he said of bare-knuckle in general and of BYB in particular. “I think it’s built for my style. It’s perfect.”

Rush, East’s opponent and a Hawaii Toughman champion, also is 1-0 in bare knuckle, having defeated Jay Fish by first-round retirement — Fish did not come out for the second round — on July 13 in New Orleans.

East, noting Rush’s more chiseled physique, pointed out that Saturday’s fight “is not a CrossFit competition. This is a fight.

“I don’t care what you look like, but I can guarantee you you’re gonna look different after the fight than before the fight.”

Starting his competitive year in January, East said, is a perfect launch pad for what he believes will be another busy and productive 12 months.

East’s fight against Rush was elevated to co-main event status after the card’s original main event fell through.

That’s great, East said, but added, “I’m just happy to be fighting. I don’t care if I’m the first fight or the last fight.”

East weighed in on Friday at 247.8 pounds. Rush weighed in at 242.4.

Wright, meanwhile, is every bit as eager as East to make 2025 a big year.

A knee injury suffered in a 2016 fight kept him away from combat sports from some three years and still impacts his ability to fight MMA. Then came the COVID-19 shutdown.

“So, with (bare knuckle),” he said, “I’m trying to stay as active as I can.”

Wright, like East, was a wrestler in high school. But after a brief stop at Upper Iowa University, where he was to have continued his wrestling career, he had a change of heart.

“I went to college for a second,” he said during Thursday’s media event. “I realized I wanted more of a challenge for myself. Wrestling wasn’t really a challenge anymore.”

Wright (1-1 bare knuckle) went home to St. Louis, where under the tutelage of Titus McDowell and Kenya Foster he undertook a career in MMA. He’s 6-6 as an MMA fighter.

He’s also 1-5 as a professional boxer.

Yet, it was Wright’s superior boxing skills that helped him overcome a first-round knockdown and defeat Kylle McMillan by unanimous decision on the same Denver BYB card on which East made his debut.

Despite the small fighting surface afforded by BYB’s signature Trigon ring, Wright believes it’s his superior skills that will allow him to prevail against Saravia.

The Argentine is 4-8 as a professional boxer but is 2-0 in BYB competition.

“He’s definitely a good brawler, but that’s about all I’ve seen,” Wright said. “I’ve definitely got an edge skill-wise, because if he’s coming in there to brawl with me, he’s gonna have a long night.”

Wright weighed in on Friday at 145.2 pounds. Saravia weighed in at 146.8.