Although it is co-owned by Conor McGregor, the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) currently finds itself dealing with something peculiar: should it match the offer Mike Perry has reportedly received and get him back in the promotion? During an interview with MMA Fighting, CEO David Feldman addressed the situation that unfolded following Perry’s exit.

“I think he got a great offer he couldn’t refuse, or that’s what I was told; he got a great offer he couldn’t refuse,” Feldman said. “Look, this isn’t talking bad about Mike Perry. He did a lot of great stuff for our company, but we know that homegrown talent is doing it now.”

“We sold 14,000 tickets at Fenway Park without any big names on there. We intend to sell 18,000 tickets in Philadelphia without any huge names on there, and we intend to do the same thing in Miami (for KnuckleMania VII). I’m not going to say we don’t need him, but the money that it costs to bring Mike Perry back to BKFC doesn’t make a lot of sense for us right now.”

Feldman’s comments come after Perry publicly stated that he’s done with BKFC. Speaking with Ariel Helwani a few days ago, the former UFC fighter revealed that he wants to compete in mixed martial arts and does not foresee a return to the bare-knuckle format at least for the next two years.

Perry’s last fight under BKFC took place on October 4, 2025, when he stopped Jeremy Stephens in the fifth round and defended his King of Violence title. Since then, he has been actively testing the waters on other platforms.

The first sign of his pivot towards MMA came when he accepted the fight against Nate Diaz in Most Valuable Promotion’s inaugural MMA event on May 16, 2026. Three months later, Perry was matched up against Dillon Danis in DuelBit’s first combat sport event Duel Arena 1.

The fight failed to materialize after Danis pulled out, and Perry ended up facing Brandon Jenkins, losing the fight via first-round TKO.

Financial incentives seem to be a major reason why Perry decided to step away from the BKFC. While the information surrounding the new deal or the promotion he will likely join remains limited, as Feldman mentioned, it should be lucrative enough for Perry to consider yet another stint in MMA.

Feldman subsequently revealed that BKFC hasn’t completely closed the doors on Perry if he decides to make a comeback.

“From what I heard, he got an unbelievable offer and that should be announced pretty soon,” Feldman stated. “If he didn’t (receive that offer) there is a chance of him coming back here. There was no problem with the organization. It’s just a matter of the direction that he’s going now and the direction that the company is going in now.

“Unless it’s an unbelievably huge name, I want to focus on building guys from the ground up. I’m putting my time, effort, and money into building these guys because they’re proving now that they can carry the company.”

If Perry rejoined, a matchup against Darren Till could become a huge possibility, Feldman revealed.

Mike Perry and BKFC: A reunion waiting to happen?

The fight between the two former UFC fighters was widely discussed, with the BKFC treating it as a dream matchup between two fierce rivals. Reportedly, Till’s arrival at the promotion early this year was intended to set up a massive pay-per-view clash with Perry, likely to take place early in 2027.

The clues surrounding Perry’s position in the BKFC emerged a few days ago. While speaking with a reporter, Feldman appeared doubtful whether Perry’s next bout will be under the promotion.

“I don’t think so,” Feldman said. “I think I think he’s doing something else. And that’s okay. Look, Mike was good for us, and we were great for Mike, and you know, he may be moving on to some other things, and that’s okay.

“We’ll see. I mean, we’re in talks, but I think they’re going to have some news pretty soon about where he’s going.”

For a fighter who has fought across multiple platforms, this could be the first time Perry’s promotional exit has faced such scrutiny. Between 2016 and 2021, he competed under the UFC banner before parting ways with the promotion upon fulfilling his contract, without any apparent contractual friction.