Gzim Selmani — the former WWE tag team champion known as Rezar of the Authors of Pain recently made a thunderous BKFC debut in Newcastle, England, finishing Daniel Curtain in the second round and delivering a post-fight promo that host Ariel Helwani called “front-runner for promo of the year.”
The Albanian-Dutch heavyweight sat down with Helwani on The Ariel Helwani Show to break down what drew him to bare knuckle, the psychological side of competing, and why he believes BKFC is on a trajectory that could eventually rival the UFC itself.
I’m here to knock people out anywhere in the world. Come get it. I’m done with everybody. Give it. Get it. I’m the Albanian psycho. I’m the one who came from WWE to this place. I have fought my ass off and I’m here. Thank you to David Feldman. Thank you to Conor McGregor. I’m here to stay — whether you like it or not. The Albanian psycho has arrived at BKFC.
Why Bare Knuckle — Not MMA, Not Boxing
Selmani was deliberate in his choice of BKFC over other combat sports options. When asked why he gravitated toward the most extreme end of the spectrum, his answer was characteristically direct.
It’s the next level of violence, and it’s the most extreme option out there. It’s perfectly for me. As my nickname says it — it’s the perfect place for a psychopath.
He also described the visceral satisfaction of returning to real fighting after years in the scripted world of professional wrestling.
It was so good to be in there again. Just the feeling of putting your knuckles against somebody’s face and just punching as hard as you can and as fast as you can and trying to hurt somebody as much as you can — it’s something you can’t compare with wrestling. It’s something that I needed.
The Switch He Can’t Control
Selmani offered a candid look at the psychological transformation he goes through before fights — something he traces back to his very first pro bout at 18 years old in Romania, fighting a 38-year-old Siberian opponent.
My first pro fight was in Romania. I had just turned 18 years old and I fought a 38-year-old guy — a Siberian Romanian guy. I just flipped 20 minutes before the fight, and my coach said, ‘You just look like a psychopath.’ I went in there, fought my ass off, won — and that’s when he gave me the nickname.
That transformation, he says, is entirely involuntary.
I have no control over it. I just become a different person. As soon as I know it’s victory or death, I flip that switch automatically and become completely someone else. It’s something that comes out when it needs to come out — and that’s during fights.
‘Bigger Than UFC and WWE’
Perhaps his boldest statement of the interview was his prediction for BKFC’s future — a prediction he made after seeing the Newcastle show firsthand from backstage and inside the ring.
I think this company is going to be as big or bigger than UFC and even WWE, to be honest. The excitement that the fans get from a show like this, the adrenaline rush — it’s unmatched by any other organization in the world. I’ve been around almost every organization. I see the potential now in BKFC and I know it’s going to go globally big.
He backed up the prediction with a scouting report on the competition level:
They’re high level, man. Especially watching them warm up and watching the fights — these guys are as real as it gets. The quality of fighting is very high here. Especially without the gloves, it’s a different ball game.
Conor McGregor is an investor and partner in BKFC, and Selmani credited him alongside president David Feldman by name in his post-fight promo. The combination of McGregor’s star power and BKFC’s raw product is, in Selmani’s view, a formula that has nowhere to go but up.
