Ring announcer talks in-ring proposal

There are often some strange things that happen at sporting events, including proposals. That’s what happened at BYB Extreme Fighting’s bare-knuckle boxing event BYB 28: Bourbon Street Brawl in New Orleans on Saturday.

There, ring announcer Kody “Big Mo” Mommaerts followed the first fight with what seemed like a t-shirt giveaway, bringing two fans from the crowd up into the Trigon ring for that. Instead, it was the setup for a proposal from Vince to his girlfriend Britton:

Britton, who accepted the proposal, shared photos and videos of it on her Instagram account :

After the fight, Mommaerts spoke to Awful Announcing, revealing that this actually wasn’t unprecedented for him, or for this event.

“That’s the second BYB proposal we’ve had. A lot of people fall in love here, I guess.”

He said that illustrates how much these events mean to some fans.

“I think it just shows that people enjoy their time here. They have fun, and they want to turn it into a moment, a memory. That’s what I love, the live entertainment of it all. And if people feel empowered and want to propose their love here, more power to them!”

And Mommaerts said BYB and its announcers love seeing that level of passion from fans.

“We want our fans to be a part of the show. We want our fans to feel welcome. And the fact that some fans feel welcome enough to want to do that is awesome. We want to bring new people to the sport, we want them to feel comfortable around the sport, and we want to have them have a good time.”

In an earlier conversation at the BYB 28 media day, Mommaerts talked about his work doing in-ring announcing for the promotion. He also works for a number of other promotions , including traditional boxing promotion BOXXER on Sky Sports. But, like broadcast announcer Mike Goldberg , Mommaerts said he loves his BYB work, and the chance to be part of bare knuckle’s rise.

“It’s been very enjoyable. I think it’s been fun helping grow the bare-knuckle market. Obviously, I do a lot of work in boxing internationally, and I’ve been a part of different shows and different sports. But it’s been fun seeing the growth of bare-knuckle happen all in real-time, and BYB’s been at the forefront of it.”

He said BYB stands out in the bare-knuckle space for their Trigon ring, their production style, and the people involved.

“I think they have an innovative style to how they produce their show. The ring is obviously very innovative. It’s been a great time, and I get to work with some amazing people.”

As someone who does ring announcing for both bare-knuckle and traditional boxing, Mommaerts said both have their merits, but the intense close-quarters fighting of bare-knuckle and the way it’s starting to take off are some of that sport’s appeal to him.

“It’s definitely a more violent sport, I don’t think anyone could necessarily deny that. And I think for that reason, the way that it can be creative in the storylines that can be crafted, the way that it can be so up close and personal, allows for just a different type of production.”

He sees parallels to some of the early days of the UFC, which Goldberg was involved in calling for a long time.

“I’ve talked to Mike Goldberg about it in the past, but it’s very similar to where MMA was 20, 25 years ago, when they were trying to build their own market and they were trying to get the public behind them. I think bare knuckle is in a very similar space, so I think it’s just been interesting seeing the market carve itself out because it’s just different.”

Earlier this year, BYB acquired European promotion BKB. Mommaerts said he thinks that’s a key step to expand their appeal internationally and help bare knuckle overall take off.

“The BKB acquisition is interesting because I work so much in the UK for boxing that I’ve known BKB for a while. And we’ve gotten to work with them before in the past. Really what it is is it just sets us up to take over more of the market, it’s just a consolidating brands and teaming up together type of deal rather than a bunch of different brands trying to take care of a small market.

“So strategically, it makes a lot of sense. They have an amazing roster of fighters, I think the UK features some of the best bare-knuckle fighters in the world, so I love seeing them just become a part of BYB.”

Mommaerts thinks international is a key target for BYB, including their upcoming BYB 30 event in Cardiff, Wales.

“We needed to grow the sport. Don’t get me wrong, every country has its own market when it comes to getting customers and getting people to watch. And getting viewership in every single market is going to be different. So at that point then, if you can start to grow in multiple markets internationally, then they can start to work together.

“And that’s how you build a global brand. Boxing’s done that, MMA did that: yes, they started in America, but they started to capture smaller markets around the world and build out pockets and niches all over.”

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There are lots of opportunities out there for Mommaerts in a variety of sports. But he said he’s eager to keep working with BYB.

“I love working for BYB. I love working with their team, I love working with their production. I love just bare knuckle in general, it’s just different, it’s fun. There’s many ways i could say it’s different, but it’s different. So I’m not going anywhere: I love working with BYB, and I’ll continue to do so and help them grow their brand and grow the sport of bare knuckle in general.”

And ahead of that BYB 28 card, BYB’s first in Louisiana, Mommaerts said he thought it would be a good way to sell new fans on the promotion.

“I’m excited to get to a new city with this show because it’s always fun watching first-time fans watch what we do. I think that they get locked in every time.”

[Top images from Britton Kelley on Instagram , in-line image from BYB.]

The post BYB ring announcer Kody ‘Big Mo’ Mommaerts talks bare-knuckle boxing, helping out with in-ring proposal appeared first on Awful Announcing .