Mike Perry made a name for himself in the UFC, but he became a combat sports superstar after finding a home in BKFC where he’s inarguably become the face of bare-knuckle fighting.
But despite all his success in BKFC, Perry hasn’t graced the ring there since October 2025 and it doesn’t appear he’ll be returning there before 2026 is over. Instead, Perry made his return to MMA back in May and put on a stellar performance taking out Nate Diaz as part of the first MVP MMA card on Netflix. Now, Perry is scheduled to face Dillon Danis in an MMA fight scheduled on Aug. 29 in Florida.
With a potential showdown against Darren Till awaiting him in BKFC, is Perry ever planning to return to bare-knuckle fighting?
“I can’t even give you that answer right now,” BKFC president David Feldman told MMA Fighting. “We’ll see what happens with the Dillon Danis fight. We’ll see as we start talking and negotiate what we can do. I will say confidently, I do think I can make this match — Darren Till versus Mike Perry — early in [2027], I do think I can make that from conversations with both of them. But we’ll see how it plays out.
“If Dillon Danis and Mike Perry were standing up and fighting, I’d say Perry walks through him very easily. Danis can grapple. That’s his thing. But I just think Mike’s too tough for a guy like him. I think you’ll see Mike come out victorious on the other end, and we’ll get into negotiations.”
Perry still has bouts remaining on his current BKFC contract, but he’s been allowed to pursue other opportunities outside the promotion such as the Diaz fight and his upcoming showdown against Danis.
For his part, Feldman believes Perry’s biggest and most high-profile fights are still awaiting him in BKFC, but he can’t say for certain when that matchups might come to fruition.
All he can do for now is watch Perry fight Danis on Aug. 29 and then Feldman hopes they’ll get to sit down and talk about his future in BKFC.
“It’s funny. Nothing against Mike, but he says to me ‘let’s talk, we’ve got to talk about the money’ and then he goes and says he’s fought for less money,” Feldman said. “What are we talking about? We’ll see. I know why he did it. It’s his hometown. He’s trying to prove something there.
“I wish him the best. I wish everybody the best. I hope the promotion succeeds. I hope they sell tickets. The hardest thing in this world to do in combat sports is sell tickets. I hope they get some good luck.”
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