Blood Night Bouts 1st Year Anniversary: Top 10 Fighters

Another Championship night has wrapped up for Blood Night Bouts (BNB), and more importantly it was the one year anniversary for the promotion! BNB hosted a two night event for the 11th and 12th of June. 

The 11th was the qualifier for the singles and tag team. For the singles, Sanguis earned her shot to fight for the Blaine County Championship and Mattie “The Calamity” Riley earned his shot to fight for the San Andreas Championship. For the tag team, the Hobo Kingdom reigned supreme and earned their shot for the Los Santos Tag Team Championship.

The 12th was the Championship Night, where all the gold was on the line! The night started with the Blaine County Championship match between Starling and Sanguis. A match building up for ages between the two powerhouses, in which Starling defended her title in a dominating 3-0 best of 5 match. The second match was the Los Santos Tag Team Championship match between the Street Fighters and the Hobo Kingdom, in which the Street Fighters were the first team to successfully defend the Tag Team Championship in a dominating 2-0 best of 3 match. The main event of the night was the San Andreas Championship match, a heated rivalry between the champion Luke “The Drifter” McCoy and the challenger Mattie “The Calamity” Riley. The match went all 5 rounds in the best of 5, with the sequel of their rivalry concluding in a 3-2 and NEW San Andreas Champion Mattie “The Calamity” Riley.

After an exciting, but exhausting, weekend, I am here to bring you the current rankings for the BNB fighters. These were chosen off the most recent BNB events and with the opinions of multiple fighters involved in the promotion. Look forward to more of these after every championship night!

1. Starling

Starling, also known as Imogen Fox, has earned her spot as #1 in the rankings this split. She has continuously proven herself with every challenge put in her way. The key factor to this is her being the Blaine County Champion, which was no easy feat. We cannot forget her breakout performance against Meryl “Poison” Ford, where Starling was victorious in a grudge match 2-1 best of 3. Following the grudge match, she also entered in the Prize Fight tournament in which she made it to the finals to beat the upcoming star Flippers to win the tournament. Along with her dominating defense on the 12th, there’s no question that she deserves to be among the top of this list.

Picture of Maxis | Photo taken by Matthew Riley

2. Mattie “The Calamity” Riley

“The Calamity, Matthew Riley, is a powerhouse of a fighter. I personally think his place on this list should be higher, but I also spar with him almost daily and since he’s like a brother to me, I may be a bit biased. He’s picked up fighting after me, but he’s taken to it like a fish in water and has done his best to prove his ability. He’s become the first champion to hold both the tag team and a singles championship longer than a single night, and he has no plans to ever lose it. He is known for his powerhouse kicks, and his fighting style is full of technical maneuvers less-experienced fighters get tripped up by. Overall, Mattie is a calamity in the ring figuratively and literally, and so anyone who hopes to take either of his titles must come very prepared.” – Imogen ‘Starling’ Fox

Picture of Matthew Riley | Picture provided by Matthew Riley

3. Luke “The Drifter” McCoy

Luke “The Drifter” McCoy, the first Mr. Two Belts and the first two time San Andreas Champion, is a well-refined veteran of the profession and possibly the GOAT when it comes to BNB. When someone hears about BNB, I’m sure the first name to come to their mind would be “The Drifter”. Luke is also one of half of the tag team Unholy Alliance who are two time Los Santos Tag Team Champions. Luke has achieved practically everything in BNB, but the only accolade he has not achieved nor attempted to go for is the Blaine County Championship. Although Luke did lose in one of the best main events seen at BNB to Mattie, he has still solidified himself in the top 3 rankings. Due to Luke losing his title, he has now been put in quite an interesting position. Shall “The Drifter” drift his way over to Blaine County Championship to attempt to be the first Grand Slam Champion, or will he floor it back to the San Andreas Championship to prove he has what it takes to take down “The Calamity”?

Picture of Luke McCoy | Picture provided by BNB

4. Sanguis

Sanguis, also known as Temari Shadel, is one half of the Street Fighters, the current Los Santos Tag Team Champions, with Mattie “The Calamity” Riley. Sanguis first made herself known by challenging people to fights for $1,000 a fight, and earned quite the fight record through this stunt. That experience she accumulated moved straight into BNB with her winning a Prize Fight she entered by beating her future Tag Team partner Mattie Riley in the finals of the Prize Fight. That momentum stayed with her and she was viewed as a competitor to fear if you were in the ring with her. She’s quick on her feet and gives swift strikes with the power matching The Berserker. Sanguis may have had a heartbreaking defeat against Starling, but she managed to keep her composure for the upcoming Los Santos Tag Team Championship match. Sanguis was the last person standing in the 2nd round of the match, where she finished off Flippers and Jack Burton to retain the Los Santos Tag Team Championship. One thing to also note, she is a competitor that “The Calamity” has not yet been able to best in a BNB match.

Picture of Temari Shadel | Picture provided by Matthew Riley

5. Jack Burton

Jack Burton, one half of the Hobo Kingdom with Flippers, has squeezed into the top 5 of this ranking. Jack is a fighter that has continuously showcased how he has improved every event he gets the opportunity to do so. Although Jack has not got his grasp on championship gold, he has come fingertips away from holding the gold. He reached the semi-finals and lost in a valiant 1-2 effort to Sanguis in the single qualifiers, but did redeem himself with Flippers by winning the tag team qualifiers. One main trait that sets Jack apart from any fighter in BNB is his astounding footwork in the ring. There is no other competitor that can do circles around his opponent like he can. He has not been able to fully capitalize on his talent yet, but once he’s mastered it, we’re looking at a future champion.

Picture of Jack Burton | Picture provided by Matthew Riley

6. Flippers

Flippers, one half of the Hobo Kingdom with Jack Burton, has to be the breakout star of the past month. Flippers made his first professional fighting appearance in the last Prize Fight, where he made it all the way to finals and ended up as the runner-up in a valiant defeat to Starling, the Blaine County Champion. Flippers followed up with this momentum by entering the single and tag team qualifiers. Flippers was not able to earn the top two spot in the singles and lost in the semi-finals in a 0-2 effort to Mattie. Flippers shook off that loss and went into the tag team qualifiers, where he and Jack Burton won the tag team qualifiers to fight the Street Fighters for their championships. Sadly the Hobo Kingdom were unsuccessful in claiming gold, but what an impressive feat to do in their first tag team showing. Flippers has shown to be quite a slippery fighter and his dodging capabilities is what people struggle with the most. All he needs is a bit more refining and training in the ring, and we could be looking at a possible champion.

7. Meryl “Poison” Ford

Meryl “Poison” Ford is a former Los Santos Tag Team Champion and San Andreas Champion. She is also the CEO of BNB, what a hardworking woman she is to be able to host BNB and be a competitor. Some people may be a little surprised to see her at the 7th ranked fighter and not in the top 5, but the main reason is we haven’t seen her compete recently! There were rumors that she may be stepping back from fighting for an undisclosed amount of time after losing to Starling in the grudge fight. I think it speaks wonders for her though that she is still considered the 7th ranked fighter with only having one fight to speak for herself during this split. Her accomplishments have not been forgotten, and that’s why she has been placed here. Before taking the break that she has, she did mention possibly going for the Blaine County Championship to become the first Grand Slam Champion. Meryl and Sane Terrace could also link up again to reform Noxious Insanity and climb towards tag team glory again. I think the world awaits to see when Meryl “Poison” Ford plans to return to action and to see who she strikes with her fangs next.

Picture of Meryl Ford | Picture provided by BNB

8. The Berserker

The Berserker, also known as Skylar Bathory, is a veteran fighter within the fight scene. Skylar lives up to his name of The Berserker with brute strength and non stop aggression. The amount of work he puts into training and building up his body gives him the natural monster body that would greatly intimidate most fighters that would step in the ring with him. Skylar depends on his over aggressive fight style, with his brute strength, to overwhelm his opponents. As we’ve seen time and time again now, if the fighter is well refined they can shut him down with dodge combos and keep Skylar pinned down if he loses control. If he’s able to step over this roadblock, then we could see Skylar higher on the list.

9. The Dullahan

The Dullahan, also known as Dominick Wickin, is the other half of the two time Los Santos Tag Team Champions, Unholy Alliance. As successful as Dullahan has been in the tag team division, he hasn’t been as successful in the singles division. He is still an active competitor in the singles division and had a neck to neck battle with Jack Burton in the qualifiers, in which Jack barely pulled the victory out. The Unholy Alliance was unsuccessful in conquering the newly formed Hobo Kingdom to advance for a rematch for the championships that they lost. It’ll be exciting to see how Dullahan changes up his fighting and if the Unholy Alliance will be climbing up the mountain to become the three time Los Santos Tag Team Champions.

Picture of Dominick Wickin | Provided by Clara Evans

10. The Detrimental Darling

The Detrimental Darling, also known as Clara Evans, finds her spot at the 9th rank. Clara has lost a lot of momentum since her Blaine County Championship fight with the former champ Miguel “The Mighty” Mackeen-Tod. She still hasn’t given up and has been participating in the most recent events like the previous Prize Fight where she picked up a victory against Blackbeard before losing to ranking #5, Jack Burton. Clara is a fighter that everyone should have her eye on, definitely on the tag team division if she reforms her team with Starling. Some say that they should be the Los Santos Tag Team Champions rather than The Street Fighters.

Picture of Clara Evans | Provided by Clara Evans

Dark Horse – Sane Terrace

Sane Terrace is one half of the former Los Santos Team Champions, Noxious Insanity. Sane hasn’t gotten his feet too deep into singles competition quite yet. He took a break after losing the Los Santos Tag Team Championship, but came back on the single qualifiers that occurred on 05/08/2022. Sane competed with broken ribs who made it to the semi-finals and lost to Luke “The Drifter” McCoy. Luke went on to become the San Andreas Champion from the qualifiers. Due to an injury, unrelated to the broken ribs, Sane had to take a step away from fighting again. Sane was cleared to fight days before the single qualifiers on 06/11/2022, and he decided to sign up for it. Sadly his first opponent was Mattie “The Calamity” Riley, who ultimately became the San Andreas Champion as well. It gets my mind racing wondering how he would have done if the brackets were switched around. Sane has proven he can be championship material, and he is the fighter everyone should watch closely if he continues his passion for fighting.

Picture of Sane Terrace | Picture provided by Matthew Riley