Henry Corrales will collide with Ihor Blazhenko at BKB 56 on July 18th. The former Bellator MMA stalwart was supposed to take on Matt Terry, and when asked if the replacement opponent was a great deal different stylistically, Corrales said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“I like it a little bit more stylistically. The guy’s my height, about the same size. The other guy was a little bit bigger. More of a padded record, but yeah, it should be good.”
‘Ok’ Corrales is making his bare knuckle debut here and touching upon how gloveless combat got on his radar before signing this multi-fight deal with BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing, Corrales stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Yeah, man. I’m pretty excited about that. Dude, well, the moment I saw it on TV, I was like, what? They’re paying dudes for this. I was like, I gotta get one of these eventually. I got get one of these eventually. The matchmaker, his name is Mel [Valenzuela]. He’s from LA, too. We just know of each other. We just got on the phone and just made a deal happen. It was pretty cool. Super easy to work with and they’re really excited about having me on, which makes me really excited. It’s on.”
While this is a new professional endeavour, the California native is returning to the nascent days of his fighting journey in many ways, as Corrales quipped [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Yeah. Well, dude, it’s my first martial art. So, I’m pumped to get back to my roots, you know? It’s the smallest combat ring and it’s just you could clinch, you could dirty box, and I’m just like, dude, this is just right up my alley. It’s really, really, really exciting.”
BKB 56’s Henry Corrales is in the best place he’s ever been ahead of this Los Angeles trigon trek
With the active clinch fighting piece of bare knuckle, it gives many crossover MMA fighters competitive advantages while also not having to continue feeling the steady grind of regularly training in grappling in the present. When delving into that piece regarding bare knuckle being a good landing point for MMA fighters, Corrales said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“It really is. I think we got a good base with fighting with the little gloves. Cuz boxers, pure boxers aren’t used to that. They can’t do a lot of stuff that they did with boxing cuz you get touched with those bare fists, it’s not going to fly.”
I have frequently spoken to Corrales ahead of MMA bouts, but he has not competed since February 2024 in his Aaron Pico rematch at Bellator vs. PFL. The calm demeanoured gun slinger has since become a father and experienced some big life changes. Getting into some of the newer aspects of his life since we last spoke, Corrales stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Man, I’m in the best place I’ve been, man. I’m just that’s truly; I thought I was living the dream before, fighting people all over the world and just having a good time. Now that I have kids, I’m just like, “Oh, no. This is it right here.” Like, this guy’s right here just jumping around.”
“Hi, [laughter] It’s baby Christopher. Henry’s running around. He’s 7 months today and Henry’s 19 months, so we got 202. Just pretty much a stay-at-home dad. Stay at home dad who goes and trains with his buddies and then just comes home and hangs out with the kids. So, it’s just been exceeding my expectations. It’s beautiful.”
When asking if becoming a parent has meaningfully altered his mentality with how he approaches competitive fighting, Corrales quipped [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Yeah, somewhat. I just don’t have any, I guess you could say like any, desired unmet expectations from not having kids. Like I kind of did the damn thing, dude. I got to hang out with the boys a bunch, dude, and just run amok and just have so much fun. Now it’s just like I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.”
“The only thing I feel like I’m missing out is if I leave the house and I’m not with my kids. I’m like, damn, dude. I want to get back to the boys. So, these are the new boys. But yeah, it’s just cool, dude. It’s just cool. It’s just completing me. I can’t see life no other way. I can’t even imagine it.”
