Andrew Strode is squarely focused on the task at hand ahead of his first time fighting for a world title as a professional in what is also his first time competing at the Hard Rock venue in Hollywood, Florida. On the latest episode of Bare Knuckle Bowker, Strode covered several subjects ahead of his interim flyweight title fight versus Gee Perez at BKFC 78 on July 12th.

When discussing how this interim title opportunity came about for the accomplished flyweight, at the 3:34 mark in the embedded interview below, Andrew Strode said,

“I thought I was going to fight [John] Dodson after the [Tyler] Randall fight but he had another promotion [Rizin] to fight on. I don’t know what’s going on with that. But I feel like this fight will no doubt be the best 125 fight and also it will be crowning the king of the 125. I don’t feel like it’s interim. I just feel like this is a regular title and I feel like the winner of this fight will be the champion. Even though John Dodson, he’s the champion, I feel like we’re the new champ. We’re the champion of the whole division because he couldn’t fight.”

Andrew Strode on John Dodson and Gee Perez

With John Dodson sitting as the reigning BKFC flyweight champion, when asked if he thinks a Dodson title unification fight does happen someday in the world of bare-knuckle boxing, Andrew Strode stated,

“Yes, In definitely do. The goal, I’m not overlooking Gee Perez. But the goal is to beat Gee Perez and then going on to fight John Dodson whenever BKFC asks me. Whenever, I’ll fight him because I want to prove to everybody in the whole BKFC world and the world that I’m the best 125 pounder and this is just the beginning. Like the first fight I fought in BKFC, I didn’t know what was going on. Never watched a fight but then I tuned in after, after I fought, and ever since I’ve been in love. I just feel like this is my game and I will show next Saturday why this is my game.”

As far as the task at hand, in assessing the resume and skillset of Perez, at the 7:01 mark in the referenced interview, Strode quipped,

“I just think he’s [as] average as the rest of them. I’m gonna go in there and I’m going to show him that there’s levels to the BKFC. I know he’s been here longer than me but there’s levels. Like me, I feel like I’m an all around better fighter than him. No disrespect to him but I’m going to show that there’s levels to this. This is why they’re going to crown me the 125 champ on July 12th.”