Chris Camozzi left Sawyer Depee’s nose in a serious state on Friday night.

The former UFC star became a BKFC cruiserweight world champion at the second time of asking in Denver, Colorado by knocking out Depee in the opening round.

BKFCCamozzi is the new BKFC cruiserweight champion[/caption]

Camozzi closed the show with a huge right hook that connected perfectly with Depee’s nose.

Eye-watering slow-motion footage shows Depee’s nose being knocked across his face as the shot lands before the Montana MMA fighter falls to the ground in agony.

BKFC boss Conor McGregor was incredibly impressed by Camozzi’s KO and heaped praise on the new world champion the next day.

Taking to X, he wrote:” NOSE BREAKER SHOT TO WIN THE BARE KNUCKLE CRUISERWEIGHT GOLD! WOW! Say hello to your new Cruiserweight King,

“@ChrisCamozzi! Hey Chris, what can they say now? Sweet fuck all, baby! Big congrats! BARE KNUCKLE WORLD CHAMPION!! @bareknucklefc.”

Depee entered the fight riding a three-fight winning streak and was full of confidence in the lead-up but Camozzi’s devastating blow shattered both his nose and his world title dreams.

The victory will come as a massive relief for Camozzi, who missed out on winning the same title last year via a split-decision loss to former champion Lorenzo Hunt at BKFC 50.

However, Hunt vacated his title after breaking his arm against heavyweight king Michael Terrill in April.

As a result, Camozzi and Depee were booked to face each other for the vacant title.

“I can’t put this into words,” said Camozzi in the immediate aftermath. “This is the best moment of my career. Ever.”

BKFCDepee’s nose was a mess after the fight[/caption]

Camozzi burst onto the MMA scene in 2010 as a contestant on the eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter.

He won his preliminary bout against Victor O’Donnell but the punishing fight left both men unable to continue with the show.

O’Donnell walked away with a severely fractured orbital bone while Camozzi suffered a broken jaw.

Though Camozzi was withdrawn from the show, he did compete in the Finale, beating James Hammortree via unanimous decision.

In the years that followed, Camozzi traded wins and losses with varying levels of opposition and was cut and re-hired by the UFC three times.

After parting company with MMA’s premier promotion for good in 2017 he had a brief stint with Glory Kickboxing and PFL before linking up with BKFC in 2022.

He is now 3-1 with the bare-knuckle boxing promotion.