For nearly seven months we’ve had radio silence on the biggest star in bare knuckle.
It's been a wild year for BKFC’s biggest star, “Platinum” Mike Perry (6-0, 3 KO). In April he headlined KnuckleMania IV stopping former world champion Thiago Alves in just one round. He would follow that up in July when he filled in for an injured Mike Tyson and faced YouTube star turned boxer Jake Paul in an eight round professional bout. While he would ultimately get stopped in the sixth round, fans dismissed it as Perry not being in his true sport.
During his Jake Paul fight week, taking advantage of the extra spotlight, Perry would announce he would be starting his own fighting promotion called Dirty Boxing. A hybrid style of fighting with small gloves, legal elbows and limited ground and pound, which all sound like great things to make exciting fights, which they are. However, since the Paul fight, and the announcement of his own fight promotion, there has been radio silence on Perry’s next fight in BKFC.
Another warning sign is that fact that just recently BKFC announced their date for KnuckleMania V, January 25th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, headlined by former UFC Champion, Eddie Alvarez facing fellow UFC vet, Jeremy Stephens. Alvarez is a former bare knuckle opponent of Perry, and all the talk following their momentous clash in December of 2023 was about how the rematch between the two would be in Philadelphia, where KM V was just announced. Not good.
The matchup of Alvarez and Stephens will be fireworks and is certainly worthy of headlining BKFC’s biggest show of the year. But with all due respect to both fighters, you can’t help but feel like this was the back up plan. When these two take the squared circle there will be a Mike Perry sized elephant in the ring with them.
To quote that one fan who comments under every single one of our YouTube videos, “WHERE IS MIKE PERRY?”
Photo Courtesy: BKFC
I could be completely overreacting, and I hope I am, but the lack of even whispers around the return of “Platinum” is definitely concerning. While he might not be everyone’s cup of tea given his past outside of fighting competition, objectively, bare knuckle is more fun when Perry is around.
There are plenty of other great fights for the “King of Violence” to take. A shot at David Mundell’s middleweight title, for example, could be getting ironed out behind the scenes under lock and key, but David Feldman has never been one to keep the fans in the dark about exciting news.
Has Dirty Boxing taken BKFC’s place as the apple of Perry’s eye? Am I just getting squirmy and need to relax? We don’t know yet, and it’s too early to tell. But with his popularity at an all time high, having Perry fight bare knuckle only once in 2024, and maybe never again is an all-time blunder. So I saw this not as a pessimistic reporter, but as a hopeful fan: Will the real Mike Perry please stand up?
Top Photo Courtesy of BKFC.
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