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BKFC ‘King of Violence’ champion Mike Perry might not have fared well in boxing or MMA. But the 34-year-old former UFC welterweight has become the ‘Jon Jones’ of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. He currently holds the perfect record of 6-0 in the promotion and has defeated the likes of Michael ‘Venom’ Page, Luke Rockhold, Eddie Alvarez, and Jeremy Stephens. But this success has come with a hefty cost. Thanks to his supremacy in the promotion, he commands a big paycheck every time he steps into the ring. This has forced the promotion to match him with bigger and bigger names to help sell the fight. However, finding big and exciting names has become difficult, as per Mike Perry’s own admission, because those names don’t want to go bare-knuckle. This includes Oleksandr Usyk, Terence Crawford, and more. ADVERTISEMENT Mike Perry reveals a list of opponents who said no The 34-year-old is coming off a fifth-round technical knockout win over Jeremy Stephens last month at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Since the fight, he appeared in an interview with MMA Fighting. “There [are] these guys that said that they won’t do it bare-knuckle,” ‘Platinum’ Perry said. “Because I get pretty high level in there in a bare-knuckle fight. There are things I know that you can tell other people don’t know.” He even agreed to divulge those names, revealing the likes of Nate Diaz, Jorge Masvidal, and Darren Till refused to fight him bare-knuckle. “I think of names when you ask me. Nate Diaz, [Jorge], Masvidal, there’s Darren Till,” Perry said. “Darren Till [doesn’t] have experience bare-knuckle that we haven’t seen at the club, and no kicking. Nate Diaz and Masvidal both have experience [in] bare-knuckle. They’d rather skip out on the bare-knuckle aspect.” It’s not just MMA fighters who have passed on the opportunity to face Perry—even boxers don’t want to catch a stray punch from the former UFC welterweight. “[Terence] ‘Bud’ Crawford, Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua, he’s a little big,” Perry added during the interview. “Jake Paul! To fight Jake Paul bare-knuckle after you beat me in boxing, and we should do 195 [pounds], and I’m going to come in there like 189.” ADVERTISEMENT While Perry makes a fair point about fighters avoiding a bout with him, it’s important to understand why they’re doing so. It’s because of the bare-knuckle aspect. No fighter wants to risk serious, long-term damage at the end of their career, no matter how skilled they are. Bare-knuckle fighting carries far greater risks—hand injuries, brain trauma, facial damage—the list goes on. And for boxers, their hands are everything. ADVERTISEMENT Read Top Stories First From EssentiallySports Click here and check box next to EssentiallySports So, while top names like Oleksandr Usyk and Terence Crawford may have turned down a fight with Perry, they had good reason to. Besides, they don’t need Perry to make money. Competing in traditional boxing already earns them far more than Perry makes in BKFC, thanks to boxing’s global popularity. Sure, if they ever stepped into bare-knuckle, it would create buzz—but that didn’t stop boxing fans from turning on Perry after MMA Fighting shared the clip on Instagram. Fan reveals why Oleksandr Usyk and Terence Crawford said no It’s not difficult to understand why Usyk and Crawford would refuse the offer, something this user understood. “They fear BROKEN hands,” the user commented. Combine that with the fact that both Usyk and Crawford, even Anthony Joshua, for that matter, are nearing the end of their careers, so why would they risk further damage? ADVERTISEMENT Meanwhile, this user found another good reason why the boxers declined. “Mike’s slurred and delayed speech in this video is further proving why Usyk and the rest are correct for not agreeing to do it,” the user commented. Notably, Anthony Joshua suffered a scary knockout in his last fight against Daniel Dubois. Getting hit like that without gloves can’t be good for him and his health. The next user, though, didn’t have those concerns. Instead, this user was betting Usyk would still beat Perry. “Usyk would destroy. Don’t even bring up his name,” the user commented. The Ukrainian already does plenty of damage with his gloves on; without them, who knows? Amid the push against Perry, this user claimed they would love for Perry to avenge his loss to Jake Paul in a bare-knuckle fight. “Jake Paul Mike Perry bareknuckle,” the user wrote. Paul defeated Perry back in July 2024 after the latter’s fight with Mike Tyson was postponed. ADVERTISEMENT The next user, however, was all in for a fight between Mike Perry and Nate Diaz. “I honestly think you would mince Nate Diaz in bare-knuckle, honestly, I’d be surprised if it made it out the 1,” the user commented. While Perry appears to be eager for a fight with Diaz, the latter seems more interested in fighting Jake Paul. Having said that, Mike Perry will likely have even more difficulty securing big names to fight him. Still, it would be interesting to see who the 34-year-old ends up facing next. Who do you think he should fight?
