This week on Sports Will Save Us All, host Sasha Graham sits down with Brooke Evans, professional bare knuckle fighter and boxer, to explore a raw and inspiring journey of addiction recovery, resilience, and personal transformation through sport.
Brooke shares how finding boxing—and ultimately bare knuckle fighting—helped her channel chaos into discipline, rebuild her confidence, and develop the mental toughness required to compete at the highest level. She describes the adrenaline-fueled intensity of bare knuckle fighting (“like skydiving,” she says), the focused mental preparation before each fight, and the emotional crash that can follow fight night.
The conversation goes deeper as Brooke opens up about:
-
Her path from addiction and adversity to professional fighting
-
The mental health challenges fighters face inside and outside the ring
-
The critical role of support systems, including friends and her teenage son
-
How motherhood and recovery fuel her purpose and grit
-
The powerful community she’s found among women in combat sports
Brooke also discusses her dream of launching a nonprofit for children in foster care and kids with incarcerated parents, a mission deeply rooted in her own lived experience. Her story is a powerful reminder that while the fight itself can be brutal, the resilience forged through sport can be life-saving—and life-changing.
Whether you’re interested in bare knuckle boxing, women in sports, mental health, or addiction recovery through athletics, this episode is an unfiltered look at how fighting can become a force for healing and hope.