Mike Perry remains the most wanted man in bare-knuckle boxing.
This past year ended relatively quietly for Perry. After re-gloving for a boxing match against Jake Paul as a late replacement for Mike Tyson in July, Perry suffered a one-sided loss via sixth-round knockout then launched his own gloveless, hybrid-rules combat sports promotion, Dirty Boxing Championship.
Perry’s bare-knuckle boxing home, BKFC, kicks off its 2025 campaign with an event on Jan. 18 in Temecula, California, but Knucklemania V on Jan. 25 in Philadelphia is the big one. Headlined by UFC veterans Eddie Alvarez vs. Jeremy Stephens, Perry seemed like an obvious choice to help bolster the annual event, however he’s absent from the lineup. BKFC founder Dave Feldman explained why on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.”
“I get it. But we didn’t need him, meaning he’s a high-priced fighter, and we didn’t need that extra purse expense on this one,” Feldman said. “So we’re going to do another one, a big show, the end of March, beginning of April. We’re working on it right now, and Mike will be back.”
A match against Paul was something Perry spoke often about long before it eventually happened. Unfortunately for “Platinum,” the anticlimactic setback snapped a monster combat sports win streak for Perry that saw him cultivate unexpected levels of stardom following his 2021 departure from the UFC.
That doesn’t mean taking the match was a bad decision, at least not financially, though it certainly derailed the aura Perry had built for himself as BKFC’s undisputed “King of Violence.”
“He made money, I think. Pretty good money,” Feldman said. “I think that he built up this enigma of who he was with bare-knuckle, really like the world’s baddest man. The most violent person. The king of violence, right? And to go over to boxing for the payday, at the end of the day, I think it was a mistake.
“Look, he made money. It was a different sport. I get it. And some things happened where he announced his own promotion during that fight week, which didn’t make us very happy. So we were a little taken aback by that and that’s why there’s probably been a little pause [on his BKFC career]. But we’ve talked. We’ve talked to his management team, we talked to Mike. He’s been out to our events and he’s coming back.”
The Paul result didn’t create a permanent rift between Perry and BKFC, but the surrounding factors were a miscommunication that could have been avoided. Feldman’s allowance of Perry to compete outside of his BKFC contract was expected to include some strong representation of the BKFC brand. Instead, Perry used the opportunity to unveil his rival Dirty Boxing promotion the day before his high-profile bout.
The whole situation resulted in Perry being publicly “fired” (not really) by BKFC co-owner Conor McGregor. But according to Feldman, the origin behind McGregor’s post-loss proclamation actually stemmed from the Dirty Boxing announcement, which neither of them expected to be made.
“I don’t [feel like it’s competition],” Feldman said of Dirty Boxing. “I just feel like the part of us allowing the Jake Paul fight to happen was getting promotion that fight week, right? Why else would we do it? We had nothing to win if we didn’t do it that way. We weren’t getting paid on it. So if we didn’t get the promotion, we didn’t have anything to win. But at the end of the day, people do different things, and Mike is a good person. I like Mike. And he helped build this company. He did. And he’s coming back.
“That’s where the Conor ‘You’re fired’ thing came from. It didn’t come from getting beat by Jake Paul at all. It came from that.”
So what does it mean for Perry’s immediate fighting future?
Feldman confirmed that fight discussions are underway.
Perry made a public callout at the most recent BKFC event he attended, targeting former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler, who was also in attendance. In classic Lawler form, the UFC legend declined to display an ounce of positive or negative emotion in reaction to Perry’s challenge.
Despite that, Feldman said there’s a real possibility of Perry fighting Lawler next.
“We’re working on it,” Feldman said of Perry vs. Lawler. “Yeah [Lawler wants to do it]. We’re working on it with the UFC. That’s a sick fight, right? I’ll know in two weeks [if it’s next]. If it doesn’t happen, then it’ll be someone else then possibly [Lawler after], but a lot of people are calling out Mike Perry now. This is actually the good thing about the Jake Paul fight, because now everybody wants to fight him. Nobody wanted to fight him [before]. They were scared to death. They’re forgetting this is still bare-knuckle. It’s not boxing. They’re not going to box Mike Perry. They’re going to fight Mike Perry. That’s the difference.”
For now, Knucklemania V marks the beginning of a massive 2025 campaign for BKFC. Along with Perry’s next step, Feldman revealed that a monumental 64-fighter, $25 million tournament is in the works for BKFC this year. The competitors are expected to consist of up-and-coming prospects and current BKFC stars. Perry could participate, though it would logistically be beneath his current contract at the start.
“It would be a price reduction for him to fight in the early rounds, so he’s going to have to risk that,” Feldman said, “but yes. It could really pay off.”
