Gzim Selmani is back in training less than a week after his BKFC debut KO, targeting a return around summer 2026 — and he has the heavyweight title firmly in his sights.
The former WWE tag team champion, known in wrestling as Rezar of the Authors of Pain, laid out his competitive roadmap on The Ariel Helwani Show following his 2nd-round finish of Daniel Curtain in Newcastle, England.
I hope somewhere around the summertime I’ll be in there again.
The Title Picture
Selmani made no secret of where he sees himself in the BKFC heavyweight division. Selmani noted that the path to a title shot in BKFC doesn’t necessarily require a lengthy queue.
Not too far away, I think. Let me rack up some wins — and I’ll knock them out, too.
He pointed to the fact that Andrei Arlovski received a title shot after only a handful of BKFC fights as evidence that big names move quickly in the promotion.
With Selmani’s combat sports pedigree — trained by Golden Glory alongside Alistair Overeem, a Bellator veteran who nearly signed with the UFC — he considers himself an immediate contender.
Eddie Hall Callout — No Response
Selmani also addressed a callout he made to World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall, who had been targeting smaller opponents including Dylan Danis.
He was calling out Dylan Danis, and I’m watching from home thinking, ‘What the hell are you doing? This guy is a quarter of your size. If you’re really that tough, call out a heavyweight.’ He got beat up by his buddy Hafthor Bjornsson, and now you want to call out this little kid? So I called him out — but his management didn’t want anything to do with it.
The Conor McGregor Connection
UFC legend Conor McGregor — who is a part-owner and partner in BKFC — personally invited Selmani to a show in Manchester, which introduced him to the promotion. Selmani mentioned McGregor by name in his viral post-fight promo and described the investor group’s conviction in BKFC’s global potential.
They really believe in the company — they know it’s going to go globally and be as big as UFC or bigger.
It’s a significant vote of confidence for a promotion that McGregor has been tied to as an investor since 2024, and one that Selmani clearly views as far more than a post-WWE landing spot. His identity in BKFC is built on a simple philosophy he has carried his entire career — the bad guy who keeps beating hometown heroes in front of hostile crowds.
I was automatically always a bad guy. I used to go to all the other countries to fight — Macedonia, England, Bosnia — and I always fought the hometown heroes, and I always beat them up. They always boo me, and I love it. Let me be the bad guy, but I’ll still knock your favorite out.
Newcastle was the latest chapter in that story. Summer 2026 will be the next one.
