The floor of T-Mobile Arena was filled with stars on the night of Dec. 16. The big names had gathered in Las Vegas to watch UFC 296. Former President Trump was ringside, as he often is these days. There were A-list actors, comedians, rappers, musicians, YouTubers, NFL players, NBA players, baseball players and loads and loads of MMA fighters taking in the action.
One of those fighters, though, was getting an extraordinary amount of attention. Former UFC fighter Mike Perry, who hasn't fought in the promotion since April 10, 2021, was being hounded by fans throughout the evening. It was easy to spot where Perry was in the arena at a given time on that night because of the line of people around him looking to shake hands, take a picture, get an autograph or just wish him well.
It was unfathomable on the night of Perry's last UFC fight that an athlete representing the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship could attract so much attention. But there he was, shaking hands, smiling for the camera and signing as many autographs as anyone.
The attention Perry, now the BKFC's middleweight champion, received spoke volumes about the growth of the sport that one-time pro boxing welterweight Dave Feldman (4-1, 4 KOs) founded in virtual anonymity in 2018. The first-event was the quarterfinals of an eight-man heavyweight tournament on June 2, 2018, in Cheyenne, Wyo.
Feldman was taking the BKFC to small venues in the states that would sanction it, which was few. Now, BKFC has been sanctioned in California and will hold its first event there, likely in April in the Los Angeles area. Feldman is optimistic he'll be sanctioned in Nevada soon, as well.
Feldman's run and the BKFC's rise sounds eerily like the growth of the UFC under the ownership of Dana White. When White and partners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta bought the UFC for $2 million in January 2001, there were very few states where MMA was sanctioned and it was not only unsanctioned in New York, but it was actually illegal.
White had to tour the country begging sports editors and sports writers for coverage, and he had to explain what the sport was. He had to let them know that it wasn't an all-out fight to the death, that there were rules and that the athletes were elite and came from many recognized sports.
As Feldman spoke, he talked about how there were fewer concussions in bare knuckle boxing than in either MMA or boxing. He said the data proves the most significant injuries sustained in bare knuckle fights are lacerations.
In the early days of the White-Fertitta-led UFC, the term "we're running toward regulation" was heard frequently. That's also been Feldman's mantra as he's tried to grow the BKFC.
"We really didn't look at what they were doing to make themselves successful, but we watched how they navigated the regulatory issues, absolutely," Feldman said when asked about parallels to the UFC's early days under White. "We saw how they had to go state to state and how they had to do different things to get fans to watch them. Absolutely, we did that. Look, some people harp on Dana White and say the fighter pay isn't what it's supposed to be, but the guys are still making really great money. The guy (White) did a hell of a thing.
"He brought it from $40 million in the hole to a $12 billion valuation, and not many people in the world could do that. He did a hell of a thing. If anyone wants to compare me to the UFC , I'll take that comparison all day long. If we can get anywhere near where they went, which I [don't] think we're going to get where they went, but if we can get half of that or 25 percent of what they've done, well, we've defied every odd in the world."
Perry is the BKFC's biggest star after putting on four extremely exciting fights while going 4-0. He defeated Julian Lane, Michael "Venom" Page, Luke Rockhold and Eddie Alvarez in his four bouts, but it was probably the Rockhold bout which drew the most attention. Rockhold took a beating and couldn't go on, a fight that solidified Perry as a superstar in that world.
Though former world champion boxer Austin Trout is on the BKFC roster, many former MMA fighters have come over and enjoyed success. Feldman had a unique idea on why MMA fighters, and not boxers to this point, have had such success in BKFC.
BKFC fighters have hand wraps to protect their wrists, but it ends on the middle of their hands. The knuckles and fingers are completely uncovered. Feldman said it's turned out because of the nature of MMA, which includes elbows, kicks and knees, as well as punches, MMA fighters are more used to those attacks.
"When I started this, I would have lost all the money in the world because I would have bet on every boxer [to defeat an MMA fighter]," Feldman said. "What is happening, though, is MMA fighters are used to getting hit with a harder object, right? Not necessarily a harder punch, but a sharper one, elbows, knees, shins. Those are things boxers aren't used to getting hit with. They're used to getting hit harder with gloves, but not that used to that. The MMA guys and the Muay Thai guys, they're more used to it, so that's why have carried over [their success from MMA to BKFC].
"Now, a lot of boxers are really starting to come over. I've got some really, really big names that I wish I could say but I can't yet because we're negotiating. But some of the biggest names in boxing from the past eight to 10 years are really talking to us now and we're going to make some big moves getting those guys over, as well."