Tag: BKFC News

Jimmie Rivera To Sign With BKFC, Reveals Manager

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship will be adding another former UFC fighter to their roster.

According to Malki Kawa, the head of First Round Management, he revealed Rivera has agreed to sign with BKFC. Who he will fight and when is uncertain, but…

Jimmie Rivera

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship will be adding another former UFC fighter to their roster.

According to Malki Kawa, the head of First Round Management, he revealed Rivera has agreed to sign with BKFC. Who he will fight and when is uncertain, but the former ranked UFC bantamweight has agreed to join the sans gloves promotion. BKFC has yet to publicly confirm the signing.

“They are signing my guy Jimmie Rivera, no one knows about that so I just broke it here on The Schmo. Jimmie Rivera is going to be there,” Malki Kawa said to The Schmo.

Rivera does have good standup and does have some name value so he will be a good fit in BKFC. The promotion has been signing a ton of ex-UFC fighters with many of them from First Round, including Mike Perry who just recently signed.

Jimmie Rivera (23-5) is coming off a Fight of the Night decision loss to Pedro Munhoz back in February. The loss made him just 2-4 in his last six and his contract had expired and the UFC opted not to re-sign him. Since then, many thought he would sign with another MMA promotion but it appears he will be heading to BKFC.

In his career, Rivera holds notable wins over Munhoz, Urijah Faber, John Dodson, Thomas Almeida, Cody Stamann, and Marcus Brimage among others. He began his UFC run on a five-fight winning streak and was 21-1 before getting his first UFC main event against Marlon Moraes where he lost by KO in 33-seconds.

Are you excited to see Jimmie Rivera fight in BKFC?

Continue Reading Jimmie Rivera To Sign With BKFC, Reveals Manager at MMA News.

‘Little Homophobic’ Mike Perry Hesitant To Let Julian Lane Bang, Bro

With Mike Perry signing to BKFC he has a lot of options in front of him, but Julian Lane may not be one of them.

Perry shocked the MMA world with the announcement that he was leaving the UFC and had signed to BKFC. Sure, he had only won three of hi…

Mike Perry Julian Lane

With Mike Perry signing to BKFC he has a lot of options in front of him, but Julian Lane may not be one of them.

Perry shocked the MMA world with the announcement that he was leaving the UFC and had signed to BKFC. Sure, he had only won three of his last ten fights, but he is always an exciting fighter to watch with a unique personality to boot.

Nevertheless, Perry is set to make the transition to BKFC, with some notable names in the bare-knuckle circuit already calling him out. One of these people is two-time Ultimate Fighter alum Julian Lane, known better as the “Let me bang, bro” guy, who has a 3-4 record in bare-knuckle boxing and called out the former UFC fighter on Instagram.

“Mike platinum Perry signs to @bareknucklefc ?????? Should I let him bang? ????????” Lane wrote.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVgdf7hJqpb/?utm_medium=copy_link

However, it seems that Mike Perry is not particularly interested in this specific matchup. When asked about it on The MMA Hour, he gave the most on-brand response imaginable, saying that he was not interested in facing someone who would want to do the things that Lane does.

“I don’t know a sensitive way to say it. I’m a little homophobic when it comes to MMA fighting callouts. I don’t want my opponents to want to bang, bro. So I’m a little hesitant with that one. I mean, we can make any fight happen, though. Whoever Bare Knuckle (makes) happen, but I want to get slim pickings because that’s one fight, and there’s other guys too,” Perry said.

At this point in time, there is no indication on when Mike Perry will make his BKFC debut or who it will be against. That said, BKFC President Dave Feldman has said he is willing to give the former UFC fighter an immediate title shot, so a fight with Julian Lane seems unlikely at this point.

Check out the full interview with Mike Perry below:

Continue Reading ‘Little Homophobic’ Mike Perry Hesitant To Let Julian Lane Bang, Bro at MMA News.

Mike Perry Leaves Door Open To UFC Return After BKFC Signing

BKFC’s newest welterweight signing Mike Perry has left the door open to a return to mixed martial arts in the future.

After seven years as a professional in MMA, Perry’s switch to bare-knuckle boxing was announced last week. Perry had competed unde…

Mike Perry

BKFC’s newest welterweight signing Mike Perry has left the door open to a return to mixed martial arts in the future.

After seven years as a professional in MMA, Perry’s switch to bare-knuckle boxing was announced last week. Perry had competed under the banner of the UFC ever since his debut defeat to Alan Jouban in 2016. Fans will no doubt remember him best for his brutal finishes against Jake Ellenberger and Alex Reyes in the following year.

After going 3-7 in his last 10 Octagon outings, which included a defeat to Daniel Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 23 earlier this year, Perry’s contract in the promotion came to an end, and “Platinum” has chosen to venture onto a new path for the time being. As the likes of Artem Lobov, Thiago Alves, and Paige VanZant did before him, Perry has found a new home with the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVgSCO3JSAC/

Perry Is Open To Another UFC Chapter

Whilst his new journey is just beginning, Perry has admitted that he’s not leaving MMA and the UFC completely behind him. During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, the 30-year-old suggested he could make a return to the cage further into his career. However, he’s looking to drop the grappling and focus solely on his hands for his immediate future.

“I think I could go back (to MMA). I can still grapple a little bit, because I use it when I punch, and it works against really good grapplers, punching works. And vice versa, grappling really works against really good punchers. It’s just, I want to let it go. So if I know that punching is all we’re doing, I feel like I could do better at that. I don’t know,” Perry said.

Despite foreseeing a potential second stint in the UFC at some point, Perry maintained that his primary goal is to become a BKFC champion.

“Sure, yeah (I could return to the UFC). Now it’s like, I’ve got these people’s money behind me right, because they signed me. They saw we’re all going to put out. So, I’m going to be this champion over here.”

Would you like to see Mike Perry back in the UFC Octagon down the line?

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Paulie Malignaggi Says He’s Been Offered A BKFC Fight Against Diego Sanchez

Paulie Malignaggi could be mixing it up with Diego Sanchez soon. Former boxing champion Pauli Malignaggi has been spending his time fighting without the gloves recently. He had signed a contract with BKFC back in 2019 and had one fight with the promotion. He has now come out to explain that he might be having […]

Continue Reading Paulie Malignaggi Says He’s Been Offered A BKFC Fight Against Diego Sanchez at MMA News.

Paulie Malignaggi could be mixing it up with Diego Sanchez soon.

Former boxing champion Pauli Malignaggi has been spending his time fighting without the gloves recently. He had signed a contract with BKFC back in 2019 and had one fight with the promotion. He has now come out to explain that he might be having a second bare-knuckle fight, and it could be against former UFC fighter Diego Sanchez.

“I got offered to fight Diego Sanchez in BKFC,” Malignaggi told The Schmo on YouTube. “Actually, me and Diego were in contact, discussing even a gloves fight. It’s possible. I personally have a preference that I’d rather not, but if the money gets really good, you start to make me consider it. We’ll see. I never say never.”

Malignaggi’s first fight with BKFC was against Artem Lobov which resulted in a unanimous decision loss. After that fight, he retired from fighting but could be entertaining a return against Sanchez.

Sanchez was let go from the UFC back in April and has been weighing his options. He recently spoke out about wanting to fight Dillon Danis in Jorge Masvidal’s bare-knuckle MMA promotion, Gamebred FC. Danis seemed interested in fighting Sanchez as well but perhaps not in a bare-knuckle organization. Danis is currently signed with Bellator.

Sanchez has been in talks with BKFC and was rumored to be signing with them earlier this year. It is unclear at this time if he has already signed a contract and if so who he will fight next. Sanchez is 39 years old and had lost two of his last three UFC bouts. His last win came over Michael Chiesa by way of DQ.

Would you like to see Paulie Malignaggi and Diego Sanchez fight in BKFC?

Continue Reading Paulie Malignaggi Says He’s Been Offered A BKFC Fight Against Diego Sanchez at MMA News.