Bare-Knuckle Fighter Francesco Ricchi Tells of Being in a Coma for Three Weeks After BKFC 14 Victory

Francesco Ricchi knows very well that you don’t "play" combat sports. Ricchi is a former mixed martial arts contestant who transitioned to bare-knuckle boxing, where he has recorded four victories, all but one inside the distance. During his fight with Noah Cutter at BKFC 14 in November 2020, Ricchi took a throat punch from his opponent. Initially, he didn’t care about the shot and focused on finishing the fight, which he did, by third-round TKO. Afterward, however, Ricchi had to be taken to the hospital, where the doctors put him in a medically induced coma. The punch to Ricchi's throat produced lacerations to his trachea, which then bled into his lungs. Ricchi woke up three weeks after the fight. Fortunately, he recovered from the operation and told Sherdog his harrowing story.

(00:00) Intro
(00:20) Traveling to Rome
(00:54) Moving to the United States
(02:33) Italian greetings
(02:56) Preparing for Diaz
(03:31) His training partners
(04:42) His cornermen
(05:13) Competing over five-round fights
(06:08) Predicting a knockout
(06:43) His relationship with MMA
(08:20) His love for bare-knuckle boxing
(10:04) Staying in a coma for three weeks after his victory over Noah Cutter at BKFC 14
(16:02) Bringing BKFC to Italy one day
(16:54) Outro

Tudor Leonte started writing about mixed martial arts in 2013 for Italian media outlets. His journey with Sherdog began in 2018 and he now covers One Championship and countless European shows. You can follow him on Twitter @MrTudorLeonte.