Alan Belcher remains one of the heavyweight kings of bare-knuckle fisticuffs, though Roy Nelson may have something to say about that after Friday night.

The former BKFC heavyweight champion won a puzzling split decision over Nelson to remain undefeated in bare-knuckle combat in the main event of Gamebred Bareknuckle 6, which took place at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi. With his win, Belcher is expected to face Junior dos Santos next for the inaugural Gamebred Bareknuckle heavyweight title.

“I’ll be honest, it didn’t go exactly how I thought it was going to go,” Belcher said afterward. “It didn’t go exactly how I thought it was going to go, except for the part where Roy took my best punches. I knew that that was going to happen.”

“I’ll be more prepared next time when I fight Junior dos Santos for the belt.”

Belcher, 39, was not alone in his surprise. After spending the majority of the bout trapped underneath his 47-year-old foe, Belcher’s victory seemed to catch even his hometown crowd off guard. Nelson secured takedowns in all three rounds and spent long swathes of the bout smothering Belcher with a suffocating top control. Belcher certainly racked up more damage from the bottom in the opening round, however he was largely stuck on the defensive in rounds two and three as Nelson controlled the pace of the bout.

In the end, two judges awarded the bout to Belcher with 29-28 scores, while the lone dissenter turned in a 29-28 scorecard for Nelson.

Belcher is now 5-0 as a bare-knuckle fighter following his successful four-fight stint as BKFC heavyweight champion.

Nelson drops to 1-1 over two bare-knuckle MMA appearances after beating Dillon Cleckler via first-round knockout in his Gamebred Bareknuckle debut.

Complete Gamebred Bareknuckle 6 results can be seen below.

A full event replay of Gamebred Bareknuckle 6 can be watched above.

• Alan Belcher def. Roy Nelson via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
• Randy Costa def. Jason Knight via KO – Round 1, 1:41
• Chase Sherman def. Carl Seumanutafa via KO – Round 1, 2:34
• Brandon Davis def. Joe Penafiel via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Curtis Millender def. Joel Bauman via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Junior Maranhao def. Joshua Weems via submission – Round 3, 2:41
• Alex Nicholson def. Prince McLean via KO – Round 1, 0:19
• Francisco Trinaldo def. Sascha Palatnikov via TKO (injury) – Round 1, 1:55
• Hector Lombard def. Chris Sarro via TKO – Round 1, 1:09
• Tyler Hill def. James Freeman via TKO – Round 1, 2:48
• Mike Sanford def. Alex Gordy via submission (rear naked choke) – Round 1, 2:47