Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight a bare-knuckle superstar Mike Perry is moving on from the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) to focus solely on mixed martial arts – at least for the next few years.
President of BKFC David Feldman recently suggested that Perry is preparing to take another chance, despite the two parties communicating. “Platinum” has now confirmed that his highly successful barefoot run is over.
“It’s good to get it out there. I had some feelings about it,” Perry told Yahoo Sports today. “It’s like a ‘BK cheat code,’ man. That bare-knuckles thing is like a cheat code, I guess. Those two-minute rounds were good for me. It was fun. I made a little noise doing it and I’m ready for a new challenge. So I think MMA is in my near future and I’m going to give it my best shot.”
However, Perry has not competed in the BKFC circuit since Stephens’ suspension in October 2025.
The 35-year-old returned to MMA for the first time in five years last May, having taken a beating Nate Diaz on the way to the doctor’s second round stop at MVP MMA 1. Perry returned three months later as a late replacement Brandon Jenkins Duel: Arena, but suffered a shoulder injury and lost by TKO in the first round (watch the highlights).
Despite this disastrous setback, Perry remains committed to giving MMA another serious run.
“I did my thing there and now it seems like we’re going the other way,” Perry said. “I think these are the gloves for me for at least two years of fighting.”
Perry declined to reveal where he will compete next, but teased that he is preparing to give another opportunity “a good shot.” MVP’s return to MMA would make sense, especially after his high-profile win over Diaz on Netflix — albeit earlier this year he said he would like to return to the UFC.
With Perry returning to MMA, he is probably the biggest free agent on the market; the question is who will sign him.
RIP Perry vs Till though.
