Perry claims he was MVP’s original option to fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on the Paul vs. Tyson undercard. MVP replied with their own version of events.
The Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson undercard is coming together quickly as the event’s July 20th date approaches. In the co-main slot is the killer rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano. Also fighting is Darren Till vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
One name you won’t see on the card, though, is ‘Platinum’ Mike Perry. As for why, there are differing accounts.
Perry himself says he was approached by Paul’s promotion MVP to fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., but the paycheck didn’t make sense.
“I was like, oh, I’m interested to be on the Mike Tyson Netflix card, to get that exposure against this certified professional boxer,” he said on the latest episode of The MMA Hour. “But the money.”
No offer was made to Mike Perry. There was a discussion with his management prior to his last bare knuckle event with the plan to revisit after that fight. We expressed interest but also highlighted the need to see factual data on Mike’s ability to sell tickets and PPV. We did… https://t.co/ZRLuiqb8N1
— BAVAFA Sports (@BAVAFASports) May 15, 2024
“Platinum” made a disclosed $600,000 to fight at the last BKFC KnuckleMania, plus undisclosed bonuses and pay-per-view points. He’s willing and able to fight outside BKFC, but has said he won’t do it for less money.
The two sides couldn’t come to an agreement, and MVP went with Darren Till vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in what certainly feels like a second choice.
Most Valuable Promotions co-founder Nakisa Bidarian denied that was the case.
“No offer was made to Mike Perry,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “There was a discussion with his management prior to his last bare knuckle event with the plan to revisit after that fight. We expressed interest, but also highlighted the need to see factual data on Mike’s ability to sell tickets and PPV.”
“We did not revisit the discussion after his fight as by that point we had the entire Paul Tyson card confirmed.”
Bare Knuckle FC’s actual pay-per-view sales are somewhat mysterious. Gone are the days where reporters with access to cable PPV sales could extrapolate somewhat accurate estimates. With everything going through the internet, it’s a black box.
We know Perry gets tons of attention, and probably generates a lot of eyeballs for BKFC, but only on pirate streams? Bidarian wanted to know the answer to that, which is fair enough … but not super relevant when your event is being aired for free on Netflix.