Mike Perry has a new promoter after Conor McGregor became a part owner in BKFC, but that doesn’t mean a bare-knuckle fight between them is off the table.
This past weekend during the BKFC KnuckleMania 4 event, McGregor announced his investment into BKFC, which made him a part owner of the promotion. BKFC president David Feldman celebrated the partnership and later explained that he expects McGregor to exert his influence over a lot of different facets of the business.
Almost exactly one year ago, McGregor attended a BKFC card, put one of the organization’s belts over a shoulder, and shared a faceoff with Perry following Perry’s win over ex-UFC champion Luke Rockhold. Now that he owns a piece of the promotion, McGregor might be more concerned with a return on his investment, but Perry would still gladly accept the opportunity to welcome him into the bare-knuckle arena as a fighter.
“It’s great to have the noise,” Perry told MMA Fighting of McGregor joining the promotion. “Because no one markets quite like Conor. Even when he made the announcement, it was a flashy little video.
“But I want it to be known that I am my own boss and I am also a part owner of the BKFC, and I’m in here doing work. So maybe a Conor fight [could happen].”
Of course, Perry is realistic when addressing a potential fight against McGregor, because he knows the Irish superstar remains a high priority for the UFC.
McGregor is slated to make his return to action at UFC 303 in a showdown against Michael Chandler in what currently serves as the penultimate fight on his contract. Win or lose, McGregor will then have one bout remaining, but Perry understands UFC will probably move mountains to ensure the former two-division champ never enters free agency.
That doesn’t stop Perry from entertaining the possibility of a McGregor clash one day.
“The only thing about the Conor fight that could be a possibility is just time,” Perry said. “Because he still has two [fights] on his UFC contract. After he fights Michael Chandler, he’ll have one, and then the UFC’s coming to the table, probably going to attempt to lock him down on deals and probably the best deals you can put together, I don’t know.
“If he wanted to do it, that would be his choice. That is why he still fights, because he wants to. I can respect that all day. A fight would be very fun considering we both fought Eddie Alvarez and he pieced him up real clean. Eddie didn’t really touch him. Eddie got me, he punched on me a little bit, but I kind of like that shit. I’m just a sick bastard like that.”
Nobody has fared well against Perry thus far in his bare-knuckle boxing career, as “Platinum” keeps racking up wins and experience with every performance.
Perry can’t say with certainty that McGregor would do any better than his past opponents, but he knows McGregor stays winning even if he’s not getting his hand raised in the ring.
“It’s hard to say nothing won’t end well for Conor,” Perry said. “The thing about me in bare-knuckle boxing, it’s always ending well for me as well. When you get two guys in the ring like that, you’re talking a heavy magnitude fight here. I used to say things like, ‘I’m the American Conor McGregor.’”
It seems rather unlikely that Perry will draw McGregor anytime soon, just due to his UFC contract, so that still leaves BKFC’s “King of Violence” without an obvious next opponent.
After dispatching Thiago Alves in just 60 seconds this past Saturday night, Perry called out fellow UFC veteran Darren Till, but he’s still not sure that fight will actually happen.
Beyond that, Perry hopes perhaps McGregor might be able to exert some influence along with the powers-that-be at BKFC to find him a worthwhile opponent for his next fight.
“I was looking at Thiago like he had two [fights], he had the bare-knuckle world title. He had two bare-knuckle matches and he’s proven very tough in combat sports throughout the years,” Perry said. “I guess I trained like I thought he might be ready to put it on me, and then the results speak for themselves.”
“Recently, on my podcast — I can’t wait for the episode to come out — I called lots of people. I called out, just to name a couple — I called out ‘Rampage’ Jackson, I called out Jon Jones, I called out Jean-Claude Van Damme. I’m calling them all out. If they want to practice fight first, go ahead, get you a practice fight or two. Because I’m taking off over here. I’m 5-0 in bare-knuckle right now, 6-0 in the past few years when it comes to this boxing. I need a challenge. I need a real boxer or someone I want to beat up like Darren Till. I want to beat that guy up, but I don’t think he’s coming to do no gloves. I’m in a weird place because I’m very good, I’m in a very good place but I’m also, who’s next? What’s it going to be?”
Perry has faith that BKFC will find someone worthwhile, but he also understands there are no certainties when it comes to combat sports. For now, he’s just enjoying the ride.
“Sometimes in fighting, it could be your last fight and you didn’t even know it,” Perry said. “That’s up to the big wigs. I’m still on contract. I’m my own boss, but at the same time, when they call, they say, ‘We have an offer,’ OK, great, I’d love to hear it — and the offer’s extraordinary.
“I know there’s some other prizefighters that want an extraordinary offer. But now it’s a thing that has to be earned. They have to prove that they want the offer. They can’t just get in the ring, get paid, and leave after I knock them out. They have to earn that payday.”
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