Mike Perry can calm his nerves about his future with BKFC.
The reigning “King of Violence” recently expressed his frustration over not being booked for a fight since knocking out Thiago Alves this past April and then falling to Jake Paul in a boxing match in July. On his podcast, Perry vented his frustrations after he recently called out former UFC champion Robbie Lawler for a potential fight but still hasn’t received word on when he’s competing again.
“It doesn’t seem to be panning out, that’s what’s happening,” Perry said on his Overdogs Podcast. “I’m just like ... fine, sure, like offer me somebody, tell me what’s going on. Tell me something! I guess Conor [McGregor] really did fire me. What the f*ck, where’s my fight at?’’
McGregor, who owns part of BKFC, famously “fired” Perry after his lopsided loss to Paul but the bare-knuckle superstar doesn’t actually have anything to worry about.
In fact, BKFC president David Feldman revealed plans are already underway to find Perry’s next opponent with hopes that he’ll get booked in the first quarter of 2025.
“It looks like March for Mike,” Feldman told MMA Fighting. “He’s definitely coming back. We talked about it a little bit at the fight [in Florida]. I know that Mike likes to talk and say, ‘They’re not giving me fights, they’re not doing this’ but we’ve been talking to his management team. He’s coming back.
“I wish he didn’t step outside of this sport [for the Jake Paul fight] because I truly believe he owns this sport. This was made for Mike Perry. Now he has to come back in here and rekindle this flame and show the BKFC fans and all the combat sports fans that he is a true bare-knuckle fighter and this is where he belongs and he’s going to show that again in March.”
Feldman also responded to Perry’s frustration over not being booked while joking that McGregor’s pink slip was only temporary.
“Mike certainly is still with BKFC, he got fired for a couple minutes there but he didn’t really get fired,” Feldman said with a laugh. “He’s certainly with BKFC. He helped really turn the corner for us in certain ways and we’re all about Mike Perry.”
As far as opponents, Feldman knows there are plenty of options, although he’s not opposed to giving Perry his wish for the fight against Lawler — if the former UFC welterweight champion is actually available and willing to come out of retirement.
“It’s a possibility,” Feldman said about Perry vs. Lawler. “The UFC has to go along with that [because Lawler is under contract]. There’s a possibility for that and a few other things.”
Because Perry commands so much attention when he competes, Feldman knows there are plenty of fighters who would jump at the chance to sign with BKFC just for that matchup.
Add to that, the BKFC president has a long list of current fighters on the roster who have been begging for the chance to face Perry so there’s no shortage of potential opponents.
“There’s a lot of different options out there,” Feldman said. “Look, there’s in-house BKFC guys. Dave Mundell has been calling him out for a long time. Austin Trout wants to fight him. There’s a lot of different guys that want to fight Mike Perry because he’s the name. One of those fights is going to happen in March and we’re going to narrow that down here in the next two weeks and then we’ll announce that.”
