Tai Emery and her viral post-fight celebration from BKFC Thailand 3 initially drew the ire of Britain Hart but the two have since rectified this issue. Appearing on Bare Knuckle Bowker, Tai Emery addressed the issue ahead of her fight against Hart for the strawweight championship at BKFC Dubai on April 4.
When Emery flashed the crowd after the aforementioned BKFC win in September 2022, the footage blew up on social media. Hart spoke to MMA Fighting about the situation in December of that year and described the celebration as something that could be seen as a slap in the face to real, hard-working fighters.
When discussing how they ironed out their issues and how the reigning champion's pursuits of being an electrician helped mend these fences, Emery said:
"I'm actually one of the first female electrical contractors out of Australia... She was having a hard day at work. She just all of a sudden was like I need to message her. You can't do this sort of work without being this sort of person. So she actually reached out and genuinely said hey, I just wanted to say I really have a lot of respect for you."
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
"I'm doing all of this electrical work. I know you're an electrician. She's like they just kind of got me. I had the belt and they were talking to me just about you. She said I was just in an emotional state and she was like they kind of took it out of context as well. She was like I am also really mouthy. So we actually from then spoke and I understand."
Check out Emery's thoughts on putting the Hart disagreement to rest below (15:32):
Tai Emery also went viral for her fight in Japan
Tai Emery's widely circulated celebration at BKFC Thailand came on the heels of a first-round knockout with her last fight also ending in a first-round KO. This fight transpired at Super Rizin 3 against former BKFC strawweight title challenger Charisa Sigala in what was the first women's bare-knuckle boxing bout to take place in Japan.
The emphatic win last July for Emery saw her dramatically dislodge Sigala's nose in footage that was shared throughout the internet thereafter. On an event featuring names like Manny Pacquiao, Emery had arguably the biggest standout performance and it ended up netting her a title shot for BKFC's first foray into the Dubai market.