Kirkcaldy fight legend Stevie Ray's fascinating admission after losing to Danny Christie in bare knuckle fight debut

Ex-MMA superstar Ray, 36, of Kirkcaldy, was dominated in round one by Christie before landing a good shot on the 41-year-old Cumbrian in round two but ultimately later hitting the canvas as Christie landed a knockout via a powerful right hander.

"I saw myself as the underdog although the bookies had me as favourite,” Ray told the Fife Free Press.

"Christie had actually had nine BKFC fights with that actual company, he’s well known in the traveller community as well. And he’s probably had dozens of bare knuckle fights with different promotions and obviously unsanctioned as well. That’s literally his sport.

"He admitted himself that if it had been an MMA fight it would have been a different story.

"After the fight I did a little five-minute video reflection piece on my social media and he commented on it saying I fought really well and I had him really hurt to the body and he was still hurt to the body a couple of days later.

"I got him with a peach of a shot, I heard him wincing.

"That’s what made me realise I’d hurt him because I heard him making a loud grunting noise.

"I got excited, rushed in, went to go for the finish and switched off for a wee second and got caught.

“I admit, I was losing the fight albeit it was only going for three minutes. So it’s hard to tell if I would have won if I hadn’t switched off.

"I had him hurt and it’s hard to recover from a body shot as well.

"You can always recover from the head but it’s really hard to recover from the body.

"You can always say: ‘What if’. I don’t want to sit here and say: ‘If I’d never got caught I would have won’ because you just don’t know in this game.

"In bare knuckle, anything can happen. He’s a veteran of the sport, he’s tough, I knew it was going to be a tough fight and it wasn’t my day.

"He was the better man.

"But I would do that every weekend. if I could. The night was class, basically sold out with 12,000 in attendance. It was unbelievable. I’m sure the fans had an amazing night and it looked like they were all having a great time.”

Ray pointed out that Conor McGregor (ex-UFC champion and event organiser) was there and spoke good words about him on the commentary. Ray added: “He thought it was done when I landed my shot. It’s the fight game and it’s a brutal game.

“I need to obviously think of long term health but realistically if there was no long lasting damage I would do that regularly.

“Getting beaten is rubbish but do you just quit as soon as you lose? Don’t get me wrong, if I go and do another one and lose again I would maybe be like: ‘Maybe I’m past it, maybe I’m too old’.

"But I literally fought a guy that is really good.

"The bookies had me as the favourite but the wide audience knew who Danny Christie was and they knew I was in for a tough fight.

"But I’m definitely going to do it again. I’m going to chill out, get a holiday, enjoy Christmas and then I’ll see what comes up.

“I live to fight another day. I’m all right, I’ve been here before.

"It’s always rubbish losing but I’ve lost a few times before.

"I’m a wee bit gutted obviously, after lurching him back with a shot to the body.

"But he caught me when I switched off for a wee minute. I hadn’t felt my best in there to start with – I was a wee bit slow starting after two years out the ring – but I was just starting to loosen up.

“It took me a wee while to get going but it was just one of those ones where just as I started feeling better and landed that body shot, I switched off for a second.

"It’s a game of inches and I got caught.

"I have two cuts basically but apart from that my body’s fine. I was soon thinking about going to the gym on Monday because I was bored!

"But I actually ended up in the hospital for my son and my daughter. Nothing serious but my son was in pain and has now been given antibiotics and my daughter needed a tooth out, so hectic.

"I’m in good spirits though. I’ve been way worse in the past.

"I appreciate all the support and love from fans, team, family, friends, sponsors, all of them. And I’ll be back.”