Mike Perry says he is moving on from BKFC: 'I think it's gloves for me'

Mike Perry has confirmed that he is moving on from Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) and plans to focus on mixed martial arts. The former UFC welterweight and BKFC "King of Violence" said so on Tuesday, October 20, on The Ariel Helwani Show, where he also gave an update on his shoulder recovery and said he may fly to this week's Real American Freestyle (RAF) event to confront Dillon Danis.

"That bare-knuckle stuff is like a cheat code... I was good at it. It was fun. I made some noise doing it. And I'm ready for another challenge," Perry said in a clip posted by Ariel Helwani. "I think MMA is in my foreseeable future, and I'm gonna give it my best shot. I kind of did my thing over there, and now it looks like we're going a different way. I think it's gloves for me."

Perry did not name a promotion or an opponent for his next fight. BKFC has not made a statement about his status.

Feldman hinted at the split

The news comes a day after BKFC president David Feldman suggested the same thing. Speaking to reporters in Newark, Feldman said he did not expect Perry's next fight to be in BKFC, according to The Times of India, which cited interview video shared by EssentiallySports.

"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," Feldman said. "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."

Perry went 6-0 in BKFC, with wins over Michael "Venom" Page, Luke Rockhold, Eddie Alvarez, Jeremy Stephens and Thiago Alves. His last bare-knuckle fight was on October 4, 2025, when he stopped Stephens in the fifth round at BKFC 82 in Newark. Earlier this year, Perry told MMA Fighting he still had two fights left on his BKFC contract. Feldman has said several times that he wanted Perry back, and a fight with Darren Till had been talked about.

A mixed 2026 in MMA

Perry returned to MMA this year after five years away from the sport. On May 16, he beat Nate Diaz at the first MVP MMA event at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, when Diaz's corner stopped the fight after Round 2, ESPN reported.

He was then booked to headline Duel Arena 1 against Danis on August 29 in his hometown of Orlando. Danis withdrew two days before the event, showing a deep cut on his arm. Perry said he had to take a big pay cut to stay on the card. He fought late replacement Brandon Jenkins and lost by first-round TKO after he dislocated his left shoulder during an exchange. He later had surgery and posted X-rays of the shoulder before and after it was put back in place.

"I'm doing ok... I'm super humble now. The game has humbled me," Perry told Helwani on Tuesday. "I just wanna be my healthiest, be my best. I don't wanna get so angry over anything anymore. Just little by little, man, trying to grow, maintain, be great again, but in a different way, in a more grown-up way."

'If I see him, we gotta squabble'

That calmer mood did not cover Danis. Perry said he is thinking about flying to RAF 14, where Danis faces Arman Tsarukyan for the RAF middleweight crossover title on Friday, October 23, at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

"I don't wanna snitch on myself prior to anything that could happen," Perry said. "If I saw Dillon Danis, we gotta fight in the street. We just gotta have a fight at this point, for free, anywhere, any parking lot. I'm snitching on myself already. If I see him, we gotta squabble, bro."

Perry has not said whether he will actually attend the event. RAF and Danis had not responded publicly as of Tuesday evening.