Gzim Selmani’s move from professional wrestling and early mixed martial arts into bare-knuckle fighting reached a milestone with a dominant BKFC debut that the promotion framed as a successful transition and one that established him as a headline fighter. Billed as “The Albanian Psycho” and best known as one-half of the Authors of Pain, Selmani is a former WWE and NXT tag team champion who previously compiled a 4–2 professional MMA record fighting for Bellator and BAMMA before he signed with WWE — all six of those pro MMA bouts took place while he was under 20.

Selmani made his BKFC promotional debut at BKFC Newcastle against heavyweight Daniel Curtin, scoring a violent second-round stoppage knockout. Curtin briefly stunned Selmani with an early knockdown, but Selmani dropped Curtin three times in the first round, opened a large cut, and sent him to the canvas at the first-round bell. Selmani then knocked Curtin down a fourth time at the start of round two, prompting the referee to halt the contest and award Selmani the knockout victory. After the fight Selmani delivered an expletive-laced postfight promo in which he declared, “knock motherf*ckers out.”

Selmani had been expected to debut earlier at KnuckleMania 6 before the promotion delayed his first BKFC fight, a postponement he said he understood. He also watched the BKFC main event in which former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski stopped Ben Rothwell to capture the BKFC title and said that outcome “did not surprise him.” The buildup around other high-profile names, including noted excitement from Conor McGregor ahead of his own BKFC debut, helped frame Selmani’s arrival as part of a growing, headline-driven era for the promotion.

Sources