Bare Knuckle FC president David Feldman said he was blindsided by the recent arrest of former BKFC fighter Sheena “Starr” Brandenberg for a fatal hit-and-run incident.
First and foremost, Feldman offered his sympathies to the family of the victim when speaking with MMA Junkie on Wednesday.
“Really, I don’t know much about it,” Feldman said. “I know it’s a very, very unfortunate situation. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the victim. I mean, I don’t really know much about it. Again, it’s unfortunate for everybody involved, especially for the person who lost his life and the family of the victim.”
According to Michigan State Police, Troy Lambert’s motorcycle was struck from behind by Brandenberg’s car in a hit-and-run motor vehicle accident. Lambert later died as a result of his injuries after being transported to a hospital. Brandenberg was arrested and charged earlier this month on one count of reckless driving causing death and one count failure to stop at scene accident resulting in serious impairment or death.
The incident took place last August, but a warrant for Brandenburg’s arrest wasn’t issued until October. This past December, despite having a warrant out for her arrest, Brandenburg (0-4 MMA) competed at BKFC 15 and lost to Jenny Clausius by second-round doctor stoppage, her second in three career appearances for the promotion.
Feldman said BKFC was unaware of Brandenberg’s legal issues prior to her participation at BKFC 15.
“Very honestly and transparently, I don’t think any company out there does background checks on their fighters (in terms of) their criminal backgrounds every fight,” Feldman said. “Once they’re involved, then they’re involved if nothing pops up in the news. I don’t think they’re all checking. We certainly didn’t check her criminal background check to see if there were any warrants for her. We never got a call. No one ever reached out to us to tell us there was a warrant, so I have no idea. That’s really how that happened. Nobody said anything, so I guess it flew under the radar for her.”
Feldman also confirmed Brandenberg is not on the BKFC roster.
BKFC unaware of Sheena ‘Starr’ Brandenberg’s arrest warrant prior to last fight
