GREAT FALLS — Kai Stewart became BKFC’s first ever featherweight world champion after defeating local rival Louie Lopez and has reaping the rewards since then. The feeling of being a world champion didn’t set in for Kai immediately after the fight, but he did feel a “relief” and “almost a breath of fresh air”. At the same time as he felt relieved, he also knew he had a lot of work to do in order to stay at the top of the food chain.
“Now the real world starts because somebody is going to come after me. Somebody is coming to get me, somebody is coming to get this belt so now I have to train harder than ever to make sure that never happens,” said Stewart.
The feeling of being a world champion took a few weeks to set in for him, but one particular phone call made him feel it right away. Kai was invited to well known rap artist Rick Ross’ pool party which was held air his mansion. While Kai describes himself as “not a big party person”, he still was able to enjoy the experience. Rick Ross isn’t the only celebrity that he was around after winning his title, though. Kai attended a “Tech N9ne” concert in Missoula and was able to spend some time with the rapper backstage. Around that same time is when Kai began his Montana victory lap.
“I want to give back to Montana. Montana has given me everything. It gave me the wrestling career, it gave me the opportunity to fight in front of Great Falls,” said Stewart. “I represent Montana…and I’m going to rep it till I die so a Montana victory lap was the first thing I had to do.”
Part of representing Montana means giving back. Kai is hosting daily classes for the youth at his gym, now called Flow State Athletics. Kai says the plan is to open the gym up to the public and continuing growing these classes and his fight team. In he midst of celebrating and giving back to his community, he is still prepping for his next fight even though he has no idea who it will be against. If it were up to him though, he knows exactly who he wants to be in the ring with.
“I would love to defend my belt against Dat Nguyen. He’s a former champion in 135 pounds and I feel he would be the absolute toughest person I fought to date. I think I can take it from him, I know I can take it from him,” said Stewart. “It’s just a matter of does BKFC thinks he deserves it because one I beat him it’s a bad look for Dat so “Dats” out. Get “Dat” guy out of here.”
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