Britain Hart delivers punishing performance to beat Taylor Starling in BKFC 63 main event
With a massive gash over her left eye, Britain Hart refused to back down, instead dishing out a whole lot of punishment to defend her strawweight title in the BKFC 63 main event.
Despite blood flowing down her face and a valiant effort from challenger Taylor Starling, it was Hart who connected with the better punches and kept the pressure on for all five rounds. While Starling had her moments, Hart connected with the harder punches and the better impact to secure the decision, with the judges scoring the fight 48-47, 49-46, and 48-47 as she retains her belt.
“I feel f*cking badass,” Hart said after her win. “I told you, I’m the baddest female to do it. I’m here to show no matter what, we can still smile and look good doing it.”
Britain Hart retains her title in the #BKFC63 main event with a hell of a cut over her eye pic.twitter.com/SvBt1xhhQe
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) August 4, 2024
There was no feeling out process in this title fight, as Starling charged forward to start the contest and Hart met her with a series of vicious counter-punches. Hart seemingly had complete disregard for Starling’s power, as she just marched forward in every exchange and unloaded flurries of punches in succession.
Starling swung wild, but Hart connected with much cleaner punches, including a combination that rattled the challenger just before the end of the opening round. Even with a strong start, Hart still went to her corner with a cut over her left eye.
Hart continued to apply forward pressure as Starling circled away to avoid the biggest punches coming from the strawweight champion. When Starling finally tagged Hart with a big right hand, she ate one of her own and seemed like she got the worst of it.
As the cut on her eye really began dripping blood and Starling started to connect with a good jab, Hart grew even more determined to draw Starling into a brawl. With seconds ticking away in the third round, Hart charged ahead with a barrage of punches and several slipped through Starling’s defense as she backed up against the ropes.
While the stats showed Starling landing more punches, she still appeared to be absorbing more punishment. That being said, Starling kept coming at Hart and connected with some of her best shots in the fourth round as the champion slightly slowed down.
Even when she was getting the worse of the exchanges, Hart’s ability to make the most of the closing seconds of the rounds allowed her to inflict a lot of damage on Starling and her face showed it. That really was the story of the fight, with Starling staying ahead early and then Hart delivering the bigger shots late.
The victory serves as Hart’s third title defense, but there’s no rest for the weary with Tai Emery fresh off a vicious knockout win as the next contender in line.
“I’m here,” Hart said when asked about Emery. “I’ve been here. I’ve fought them all from UFC, pretend faces, ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ Australian b*tches, so bring it all on.”
