In just a few weeks, Bare Knuckle FC will host one of the most important events in the company’s short history, headlined also by one of their biggest fights.
On Aug. 20, Mike Perry and Michael Page will thrown down in a middleweight bout that serves as top billing of BKFC 27, the promotion’s first event in London. This matchup pits a former UFC star in Perry, who signed with BKFC in late 2021, against a current Bellator title contender in Page.
This is the first BKFC-Bellator crossover fight as MVP is still under contract with Bellator but was given permission to partake in this bout that was made out of nowhere.
“It wasn’t something that we set out and said, ‘Let’s do Mike Perry vs. MVP,'” BKFC president David Feldman told MMA Junkie Radio. “It was we had another main event at Wembley, and that fell through. I actually had the whole card built and said, ‘Man, we don’t have a main event now.’
“I had Mike Perry fighting in Florida. So instead of that, I pulled Mike Perry and said let’s have Mike Perry over here, and who could we get him against? And actually David Haye, former boxing world champion, said, ‘Let me talk to MVP and see if he can do it.’ And I said, ‘Of course, let’s do it, but I don’t think Bellator would ever allow that.’
“At the time we got the first conversation with Bellator done, I think it was like seven or 10 days, so it really wasn’t a long journey. It was very easy, and Mike Kogan made it very easy for us to get this job done, so thanks to Mike.”
Feldman is excited for the matchup and believes it will do well for the company given Page’s popularity in MMA, especially with the European audience.
Feldman is open to keep a working relationship with Bellator, as well as keep the doors open for other promotions. And not just to bring fighters over into the bare-knuckle boxing world but also the other way aorund.
“I’m in a spot where I just want eyeballs on us,” Feldman said. “I want people talking about us and seeing it for the first time, because if they watch it for the first time, chances are they’re going to become a fan of the sport.
“With that being said, I can do an MVP for one fight and let him go back to Bellator, and it doesn’t hurt me. It just helps me. I don’t mind it. I just use somebody for one fight, or I share them for one fight, however you want to call it, and then they go back to another organization.
“So that’s something that we will always do. And, yes, I think if one of my fighters could fight for Bellator or the UFC or one of the big organizations out there, and get their fans to start seeing my guys, and then they follow them back to bareknuckle, it just works. But I can see that it doesn’t work for every promotion in the world.”
