2008 Commonwealth Youth Games Champion (1st Welshman to do so)

Dan Chapman is a Welsh bare-knuckle fighter who started his fighting career early in life. Growing up very tough, surrounded by drugs and abuse, the Welshman of Bangladeshi descent also faced a lot of bullying because he looked different than the other kids. He started fighting to earn the respect of his classmates and he fought often. “I’d have a fight every day until I got respect.” Even if he got beaten up badly, he would come back the next day and get that one back. 

He fell in love with martial arts, boxing in particular and submerged himself in that world. He became an amateur champion and racked up several accolades including becoming the first ever Welshman to earn the title at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2008. From there he had his eye on the 2012 olympics. 

He suffered a major setback ahead of his qualifier in a nasty motorcycle accident that he is no doubt lucky to have survived. Doctors told him he would never train again and he should find another positive outlet. He began mentoring young children and eventually teaching disabled kids how to box. To this day, he remains a boxing coach.

Jumping forward to present times, *Chapman has been undefeated to this point in bare-knuckle, with a 5-0 record to his name ahead of his BKFC debut in Spain. He was intimidated by the sport at first but has surely become a dominant force in the flyweight, bantamweight and now featherweight divisions. His style is a blitzing, technical one with speed and volume in his punches. He can enter and exit the pocket before most of his opponents can get a single defensive shot off. 

The BKFC’s lighter divisions need to be on notice with the newcomer in the promotion. Chapman looks to continue his dominance in the world's premier bare-knuckle league so *mark your calendars for October 12, when he faces another high level debutant in the Czech Republic’s Mike Jurik!