Rolando “Dy Incredible” Dy is the Filipino BKB Super Welterweight World Champion and a former UFC fighter who will headline BKB 60 in Newcastle on October 10. He defends his title against five-time BKB champion Scott “The Mute” McHugh at Utilita Arena Newcastle, marking BKB’s first event in the city.
Dy arrives as one of bare-knuckle boxing’s most notable recent titleholders. The 35-year-old has built a 6-1 bare-knuckle record with five stoppage wins, turning a long MMA career into a title run that has taken him from Thailand to the UK and United States. He is the first Filipino fighter to win a BKB world championship.
Who Is Rolando Dy?
Born Rolando Gabriel Dy Jr. in Parañaque, Philippines, Dy competed in mixed martial arts for more than a decade before becoming a bare-knuckle champion. His MMA record stands at 15-13 with one no contest, and his experience includes stints in the UFC, BRAVE Combat Federation, Pacific Xtreme Combat and UAE Warriors.
Dy entered the UFC in 2017 as a short-notice replacement and faced Alex Caceres in his first appearance. He then fought Teruto Ishihara before earning a unanimous-decision win over Wuliji Buren in Shanghai. His final UFC outing came against Shane Young in 2018, a fight that received a Fight of the Night bonus.
Outside the UFC, Dy won the inaugural UAE Warriors featherweight championship in Abu Dhabi in May 2019 by defeating Erzhan Estanov over five rounds. That part of his career gave him experience in different rule sets, countries and weight classes before he made the move to bare-knuckle competition.
Dy is the son of Rolando Navarrete, the former WBC super-featherweight world champion from the Philippines. Navarrete held the WBC 130-pound title in 1981, and Dy’s career has made the family a rare father-and-son championship pairing across boxing and bare-knuckle fighting.
Dy won the BKB Super Welterweight World Championship when he outpointed Liam Rees by unanimous decision at BKB 49 in Wales on December 5, 2025. The result made him the first Filipino BKB world champion and gave him a belt after a run built largely on stoppages.
His first title defence brought a bigger name. At BKB 54 in Manchester in May, Dy knocked out former two-weight boxing world champion Paulie Malignaggi 56 seconds into the second round. That win pushed his BKB record to 6-1 and confirmed his place at the top of the promotion’s super-welterweight division.
Dy was initially booked beneath the heavyweight bout between Newcastle‘s Mick Terrill and Kamil Sokolowski. Terrill suffered a cut while stepping in on short notice against heavyweight champion Gustavo Trujillo in Miami, leaving insufficient time for the injury to heal before October 10. BKB then elevated Dy’s title defence against McHugh to the main event.
