Mike Perry has largely run roughshod over his competition in bare-knuckle boxing, racking up a 5-0 BKFC record that includes three straight wins by knockout.
But that also leaves him in an awkward position with no real opposition in sight.
Most recently, Perry took out UFC veteran and former BKFC champion Thiago Alves in 60 seconds flat at BKFC KnuckleMania 4. That win came after Perry also demolished ex-UFC champions Luke Rockhold and Eddie Alvarez in back-to-back fights.
As Perry’s stock in bare-knuckle fighting continues rising, his list of options for potential opponents seems to be dwindling. But BKFC president David Feldman promises something big is currently in the works.
“Really I can just tell you that I’m making a move next week, I’m going down and visiting two big-name fighters for him that I think are really, really going to blow this thing up,” Feldman said Monday on The MMA Hour. “I think we’re really close to getting this done.
“The thing is, look, I can put him in with the championship, and I want to — and if he wants to, I’m going to do that. Because I think we owe it to our champion [David Mundell] and Mike Perry to do it. But at the end of the day, I have to give him someone that people care about or the people are really invested in to watch this thing now, because he is kind of a superstar in combat sports now. I have to give him someone that people are going to talk about. I have two or three names people are certainly going to talk about.”
Feldman declined to offer specifics because deals aren’t done yet, but he promises the potential opponents have household names in combat sports.
“I can tell you they’re legends in the UFC,” Feldman said. “Legends.”
According to Feldman, the fighters he’s going after aren’t currently under UFC contact so there’s no conflict as far as getting permission to cross over into bare-knuckle boxing.
As for other options available, Perry recently teased interest in potentially returning to MMA or even taking a boxing match while waiting for the right opponent to materialize in BKFC.
One option is two-time Bellator veteran and grappling wizard Dillon Danis, who has engaged in a war of words with Perry on social media over the past couple of weeks. It’s a fight Perry said he’d happily accept, although he knows there’s no way Danis would ever fight him in bare-knuckle, which is why a return to MMA remains on the table.
Feldman doesn’t know for certain if that might actually happen, especially given Danis’ spotty record teasing fights and then disappearing before the event takes place.
“We’ll probably be associated with it if it happens,” Feldman said of Perry returning to MMA. “Who knows if it happens, but this one that we talked about — it does make sense, if it happens. If it happens, good, and we’ll help out with the promotion and then he’ll come back over [to BKFC].
“But I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not. The guy he’s going to fight [Danis], sometimes he signs the contract and shows up and sometimes he doesn’t. We’ll see.”
Feldman also addressed Danis possibly taking a stab at a bare-knuckle bout, although it doesn’t sound as if that’s really an option being explored right now.
“I think it could be Dillon Danis [in MMA],” Feldman said. “I would [consider him for BKFC], but his performance against Logan Paul wasn’t great, obviously, right? I think there’s a lot of hype behind it, so I would like to see if he really wants out there and he’s good friends with Conor McGregor. He’s good friends with Conor McGregor so maybe that’s something that makes sense, but I don’t know if the fans want to see it. Because I don’t think they’re confident that he’s going to go in there and bang it out with [Perry].
“In MMA, it’s different. He’s one of the best jiu-jitsu guys in the world. MMA makes a lot more sense for him. But if he’s willing to take the gloves off, and stand up and throw it down, we can definitely have a conversation about that, and we did. We did have conversations about that, it just didn’t go anywhere.”
When it comes to Perry’s return timeline, Feldman still has details to iron out before making any announcements, but he hopes a late summer or early fall return makes the most sense.
“I want to bring him back, depending on what he does with this possible MMA fight, but I want to bring him back in September,” Feldman revealed.
