Fyre Fest fraudster Billy McFarland shocked the crypto and combat sports world Thursday night, defeating the heavily favored crypto YouTuber Justin “Jchains” Custardo via TKO during the main event of Karate Combat’s Influencer Fight Club series at the Consensus conference in Austin, Texas.
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Custardo, the co-founder of the Web3 Breakfast Club channel, had trained for months for the bout, promising revenge for the investors who lost $26 million on McFarland’s fraudulent Fyre Fest. But Custardo quickly ran out of gas in the second round of the wild MMA-style fight and had no defense against a barrage of right crosses thrown by McFarland. With less than 20 seconds left, McFarland finished off Custardo with a knee strike and several punches, sending the gassed out content creator to the mat for the final time.
The two-round fight was the final bout at Karate Combat 46, a four-hour event combining full contact martial arts with crypto trading and immersive CGI environments powered by Epic Games’ Unreal Engine program. Karate Combat odds makers had favored Custardo to win the bout with 58/42 odds, but fight announcer and three-time UFC champion George St. Pierre did note prior to the bout that McFarland potentially had one major advantage in his corner.
“Do you think he learned anything crazy in prison,” announcer and podcaster Mike Maljack asked St. Pierre, referencing McFarland’s four-year stint in prison.
“I think he learned a lot more when he got out because he trained with Phil Nurse, who was my coach for my career,” said St. Pierre, who is widely regarded as the greatest welterweight MMA fighter in UFC history. Nurse is a UK-born former Muay Thai kickboxer and undefeated European Light Welterweight Champion who now owns and trains out of The Wat, a gym in Manhattan.
“There is no better teacher than Phil Nurse I believe,” St. Pierre said.
McFarland thanked Nurse in a post-fight interview and promised to use a portion of his winnings, including all of his $12,000 knockout bonus, to repay his Fyre Fest investors. As for Custardo, the YouTuber took to social media shortly after the fight to devour a post-bout slice of pizza and nurse his wounds.
“I got beat up, but it’s alright,” Custardo told his followers.
