Ellsworth’s Chris Sarro came up on the short end of a wild 46 seconds of bare-knuckle fighting Friday night at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 17 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Opponent Ehsanullah Kakar landed the final punch during the first-round flurry, a countering left hook, to score the early knockout in their 205-pound battle at Boutwell Auditorium.
Kakar was making his Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship debut after compiling a 3-0 mixed martial arts record.
Sarro, who had spent several weeks in Puerto Rico while training for the fight, saw his BKFC record dip to 2-2.
Kakar immediately backed Sarro up at the start of the first of their scheduled five two-minute rounds. Sarro quickly regrouped with a series of heavy right hands, one that nearly knocked his opponent down and another that forced Kakar to cover up.
The combatants continued to trade power punches until Kakar finally countered enough to create some space between himself and Sarro, a former Northern New England Golden Gloves boxing champion.
Sarro began to work his way back forward again and landed a clean left jab, only to have Kakar counter with a left hook to the jaw that sent Sarro down.
Sarro struggled as he grabbed the ropes in an attempt to get back to his feet but was unstable as referee Christopher Smith completed the 10-count and stopped the fight.