Women have proven that they can produce some beautifully-violent sequences when it comes to combat sports so fight fans should not have been too surprised to see the carnage translate onto the ice hockey rink.
On Friday, Bare Knuckle Boxing Championship (BKFC) was back for the third installment of “Ice Wars,” which takes the brutal sport of bareknuckle boxing and pairs it will hockey skates and cold ice. The combination has worked well in the past, but before Friday’s event fight fans have only seen men compete. Women have certainly held their own under the main banner of BKFC, but never in this hockey-infused spectacle.
That all changed at BKFC: Ice Wars 3 and the fight game is better off for it.
The first-ever women’s bareknuckle ice hockey fight was contested between Canada’s Christina Barry and Illinois-native Valerie Ruley. It was not a great matchup on paper considering Barry brought in a 1-9 professional boxing record and Ruley had never competed in combat sports before, but that didn’t really matter at all. Once the fists starts flying and the blood spilled onto the ice, Barry vs. Ruley quickly turned into an all-out war any fight fan would want to see.
The fight itself didn’t last all that long. Both women went full psycho mode to begin the first round, but it was Ruley who did more damage to the face. The punishment quickly added up and it left Barry with a gnarly hematoma on the left side of her face, forcing the referee to step in and award Ruley the TKO win.
Luckily, we have highlights! Bloody ones at that. You can check out the entire fight card above (via Fubo Sports) and some action from Barry vs. Ruley below:
