Bare knuckle boxing’s biggest star Mike Perry is heading back to the ring sooner than expected as he looks to stay active in 2024.
‘Platinum’ Perry defeated Thiago Alves on Saturday night at BKFC’s big Knucklemania pay-per-view with a stunning first round finish. It was his fifth consecutive win in the sport, and sixth since leaving the UFC in 2021.
The former welterweight contender is now one of the hottest commodities in combat sports. And he is keen to cash in on the attention that has surrounded his name by making an early comeback following his statement victory.
Mike Perry fears BKFC won’t offer him a world title due to celebrity status
One issue that faces Perry from an athletic standpoint is that he appears not to be in line for a shot at BKFC gold. His star power is such that the promotion would rather he fights recognisable names, as opposed to taking on a tough challenge for the belt.
Perry has already taken out former UFC champions Luke Rockhold and Eddie Alvarez, and beat major names in Julian Lane and Michael ‘Venom’ Page by decision. Meanwhile, the world title is held by little-known fighters David Mundell at middleweight and Lorenzo Hunt at light-heavyweight.
“First of all they won’t offer me the championship fight,” he explained. “They don’t want me to hold up the division while they wait for, what, celebrities to come fight me. So they don’t want me to hold everything up.
“They don’t even offer it to me so you’re not an option. And if you are and they call, then I say ‘yeah’. But they talk that s*** when the cameras are there but then when I come into the hotel lobby it’s ‘oh I’m trying to get paid man’, that’s what they say.
“But then be worth it, who’s the last person you fought? I don’t know their name! Who’s the last win you had? I don’t know, no one knows and that is the problem. Make something happen, that’s what I did. You can’t do it like me.”
Mike Perry teases Dillon Danis fight for BKFC title as he confirms quickfire comeback
However, there may be a chance of Perry being able to slot in for a light-heavyweight shot after reigning champion Lorenzo Hunt suffered an horror injury on the undercard of Saturday’s show. Hunt is also the cruiserweight champion and would need to cut over 50lb from his last fight weight to get back to 185lb.
Should that title opportunity arise for Perry, he has named controversial jiu-jitsu black belt Dillon Danis as a potential opponent. The New York native is 2-0 in the MMA cage, but lost his sole boxing match against Logan Paul in October on the Misfits Boxing Prime Card.
Danis tweeted and deleted a callout to Perry, who was the weighed in backup should he or Paul have pulled out of that bout last year. The pair even faced off at the pre-fight press conference after the YouTube star was cut by a microphone Danis threw.
“Let’s do it bare knuckle for the belt f*** it,” he wrote on social media, before removing the post. Perry then shared a poll on his Instagram story asking fans how the would feel about such a matchup. 64 percent wanted to see the fight, while 46 percent replied “no”.
Perry then shared a lengthy post to his main feed, which included a piece regarding his future in the squared circle. “The story has just begun now that I have built myself into the right position,” he wrote towards the end of a lengthy response to UFC legend Chael Sonnen’s analysis of his recent uptick in attention. “Thank you all! Quick turn around and there should be big event NEWS coming soon.”