BKFC CEO David Feldman doesn’t sound like a man expecting Mike Perry back in the bare-knuckle ring. Asked by a reporter ahead of the promotion’s event in Newark whether Perry’s next fight would come under the BKFC banner, Feldman answered, “I don’t think so,” and said he believes Perry is pursuing something else.
Feldman kept it friendly. He said “Mike was good for us, and we were great for Mike,” and allowed that the two sides are still talking. He also said he expects news soon about where Perry ends up, which is a strange thing to say about a fighter you’re still negotiating with. Essentially Sports first reported the comments.
The contract is murky. Reports suggest Perry has two fights remaining on his BKFC deal, and a 2027 matchup with Darren Till has been floated, though nothing has been agreed. Two fights left and the boss is already talking about him in the past tense. That tells you plenty about the state of those talks.
How Perry got here
Perry’s last bare-knuckle appearance came on October 4, 2025, when he stopped Jeremy Stephens in the fifth round to keep the King of Violence title, a belt that’s more symbolic than official. Since then he’s been everywhere but BKFC. On May 16, 2026, he fought Nate Diaz in an MMA bout on Jake Paul’s first MVP MMA card. He was then booked to face Dillian Danis in MMA on August 29 in Orlando, but Danis pulled out. Perry headlined the Duel Arena card anyway and lost to Brandon Jenkins by first-round TKO.
Feldman had already voiced doubts before the Danis booking, and the money angle clearly bugs him. “Nothing against Mike, but he says to me, Let’s talk; we’ve got to talk about the money,’ and then he goes and says he’s fought for less money,” Feldman said. “What are we talking about?” He added that he understood the appeal: “It’s his hometown. He’s trying to prove something there.”
The relationship has had cracks for a while. After Perry lost to Jake Paul by stoppage in a boxing match on July 20, 2024, he got into a public feud with Conor McGregor, who declared Perry had been fired from BKFC. Perry came back and beat Stephens anyway.
That’s a messier exit than the one he took from the UFC. Perry lost a unanimous decision to Daniel Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 23 on April 10, 2021, finishing out his contract quietly. He had dropped seven of his previous 10 fights, and his team went to free agency looking for the best offer rather than a cheaper UFC renewal. BKFC paid up. Perry has also been busy outside the ring, launching the Dirty Boxing Championship (DBX) in 2024, with Jon Jones coming aboard as a co-owner in March 2025.
He isn’t the only BKFC name with one foot out the door. Flyweight champion John Dodson has publicly criticized his exclusive contract over inactivity, and the promotion’s decision to scrap men’s flyweight could push Dodson and interim champ Andrew Strode up to bantamweight.
Sal’s take
Here’s my problem with Perry’s side of the negotiation. You ask for more money from the place where you’re the King of Violence, then you go fight elsewhere for less and get stopped in Round 1 by Brandon Jenkins. That’s a rough way to raise your asking price. BKFC is the one room where Perry’s style is worth a premium, and Feldman just told everyone he’s fine watching him walk out of it. If the Till fight ever happens in 2027, the guy who caves first is the one who needs it more, and right now that isn’t Feldman.
