Bare Knuckle Fighting star Joey Beltran was nearly KO'd before his Thursday night fight -- 'cause the #1 ranked heavyweight tells TMZ Sports he literally began choking at breakfast, and would probably be dead if someone didn't step in and save him.
And, guess who played hero? Bare Knuckle executive David Feldman!!
If you're a fight fan, you know 'The Mexicutioner.' Before joining BKFC (where he has a 5-2-1 record) a few years ago, Joey spent time in the UFC and Bellator.
Beltran was eating breakfast in his hotel room in Ft. Lauderdale when his coach showed him a funny internet video.
"An old school Fear Factor video or something and I started laughing," Beltran tells us.
"Next thing you know, I started choking."
The 40-year-old scrapper says he started panicking when he couldn't cough up the food -- and that's when Feldman came to the rescue.
"Of all people, the boss man had to come up and bust a Heimlich," JB said. "Couple of pumps and I spit it out and I was all good."
"So, contrary to popular people, David Feldman cares about us fighters!"
Despite the scary incident, JB is still scheduled to fight Frank Tate (1-1-1) tonight -- the main event for a loaded fight card.
It's arguably a must win for Beltran ... who's gunning for a rematch with Arnold Adams, the #3 ranked heavyweight fighter who recently beat him in a title fight.
It all goes down inside the Charles F. Dodge City Center at 9 PM ET!