Kasim Ruffin had two unique inspirations early in his martial arts journey – Pokémon and Jet Li.

“I was a very small child, and I was pretty sickly. I had asthma and had pneumonia twice really bad, so I wasn’t really able to play sports because my mom was terrified that I was going to hurt myself,” he says.

“But around that time I started watching Pokémon, and at the beginning they say, ‘I want to be the very best that nobody ever was,’ and that mantra stuck with me. Then I started watching karate films thanks to a wonderful older lady named Miss Carol. I saw Jet Li, this little tiny man beating up all of these huge people. From that point, I wanted to be super skilled, and the best that nobody ever was.”

Ruffin’s journey led him from high school wrestling to the MMA cage, and eventually to the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship Squared Circle. At BKFC 51 in Salem, VA, Ruffin improved to 2-0 under the BKFC banner with a third-round TKO over Daniel Gary.

With a pair of stoppage victories under his belt, the Brooklyn, NY-born, Portsmouth, VA product feels at home in the Squared Circle.

“It’s wonderful, honestly,” he says. “I love the fact that BKFC is really trying to push me. It’s amazing when you find a promotion that really knows how to promote. A lot of other shows don’t really try to build their athletes, so it’s really exciting to be able to grow with BKFC.”

The promotional aspect of fighting interests Ruffin greatly. He wants to someday soon be a face of the BKFC franchise – and amass a collection of belts before calling it a career.

“When Reggie Barnett Jr. decides to retire, I want to go down to 135 and reclaim the BKFC World Bantamweight Championship, because he’s the one who introduced me to the sport and made all this possible. Then I’d like to grab the 145 belt and, before retiring, go up and get that belt at 155 pounds too.

“Leave my legacy as the GOAT, you know?”