Mike Perry Cements Status as King of Bare Knuckle Fighting Following Knuckle Mania IV Win

Mike Perry had blood dripping from his cheek. There was more blood smeared on his chest and shoulder. Perry capped Knuckle Mania IV by battering former UFC welterweight challenger Thiago Alves in 60 seconds during their bare-knuckle fight Saturday night in Los Angeles.

Having the colorful Perry fall into their laps may have been the best stroke of fortune for the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships. Perry isn’t necessarily motivated by chasing championships. Perry likes the violence.

“I’m No. 1 pound-for-pound,” Perry said in an in-ring interview following the fight. “(Expletive) anyone who thinks differently.”

During Perry’s BKFC career, which has now stretched slightly over two years, he has fought five times, primarily against former UFC fighters. Perry, a UFC veteran himself, is motivated by making money. The only championship he has won in the BKFC was a symbolic one.

Perry knocked out Eddie Alvarez last December to win the “King of Violence” championship. Online boxing news shows that Perry made it clear to BKFC CEO David Feldman that he is willing to take on all comers as long as the money is right. Perry has fought at both light heavyweight and middleweight in the BKFC.

During Perry’s MMA career, his time in the sport peaked when he was in the UFC between 2016 to 2021. Perry was 7-8 in the UFC. While he has been inconsistent with results in the UFC, Perry produced his fair share of memorable moments.

Perry picked up two Performance of the Night bonuses and had the Fight of the Night twice. However, Perry had some legal troubles outside of the octagon that put a damper on some of his accomplishments. However, online boxing news shows that Perry, at least professionally, appears to be in the right place for the BKFC.

Perry wants Feldman to feed him tougher opponents and bigger purses moving forward. He doesn’t believe he can be beaten.

“Come and see me, bro,” Perry said. “If you want the smoke and you want the money. I want all the smoke and all the money. You can’t beat me. This is my money.”

Hunt Falls Short of Grabbing Third Title

Lorenzo Hunt’s ambition may have forced him to fly too close to the sun. Now, the fate of two other divisions is up in the air after Hunt took a first-round knockout loss to heavyweight champion Mick Terrill. Heavyweight boxing news shows that Terrill stung Hunt with an uppercut that sent him sprawling backward in the first round.

When Hunt went to brace himself for the fall, the impact injured his elbow. Hunt’s injury may result in vacant championships in the cruiserweight and light heavyweight divisions. Hunt had taken the fight with Terrill, hoping to become a three-division champion.

Terrill is starting to build a nice reputation in the sport. He won the championship at BKFC 56 last December, and the win over Hunt was his first successful title defense.

Heavyweight boxing news shows that allowing Hunt to fight at heavyweight was an interesting decision. In many combat sports over the past few years, many fighters have pursued becoming  multi-division champions. While this is a neat accomplishment, it also holds up weight divisions from having other challengers get their moment in the sun. Hopefully Hunt makes a speedy recovery.

Rothwell Continues to Find Success

Like Perry, heavyweight Ben Rothwell has successfully transformed from the UFC to bare-knuckle boxing. While Rothwell is much more well-adjusted than Perry, he is just as capable of inflicting punishment on his opponents. While Rothwell was able to pick up his third straight win against UFC veteran Todd Duffee, his win also came under strange circumstances.

Rothwell hit Duffee with a hard left hand 20 seconds into the first round, which sent Duffee flying into the ropes. While Duffee returned to his feet, he never appeared to be the same. Duffee slipped and fell back to the canvas when the two men engaged following the knockdown.

Duffee then signaled to the referee he didn’t want to continue. Rothwell ended up picking up the first-round TKO. 

Angulo Sends Riggs Back Toward Retirement

Jeremiah Riggs had to be a little crazy returning to the ring after two years away from the sport. But Riggs, 41, who fought primarily in MMA during his prime, coming back to fight former WBO interim light middleweight champion Alfredo Angulo is even crazier.

Angulo is a 41-year-old Mexican boxer with 34 professional gloved boxing matches under his belt. What Angulo found against Riggs is that maybe he could have a run in another discipline of boxing. Angulo pressured Riggs from the start of the fight.

Angulo could lean on his boxing experience to exploit Riggs’ ring rust. Angulo dropped Riggs after just 1 minute 7 seconds in the first round.

Lane Picks Up Surprising Victory

Julian Lane hasn’t always had the most successful career in combat sports. Lane’s career in the BKFC has had more valleys than peaks. However, Lane showed that he always had a puncher’s chance in any fight when he took on Evgeny Kurdanov.

Lane, who is 6-7 in the BKFC, did enough damage to Kurdanov to force the doctor to step in and stop the fight. Lane has now won two consecutive fights.

Here’s a look at the other fights on the card not listed above:

• Women’s bantamweight, Crystal Pittman win by TKO (punches) over Sydney Smith, Round 1 :48
• Bantamweight, David Diaz unanimous draw with Shane Jordan, 47-47 (x3)
• Lightweight, Andrew Angelcor win by split decision over Ruben Warr, 49-46, 48-47 Angelcor, 48-47 Warr
• Bantamweight, Daniel Alvarez win by TKO (doctor’s stoppage) over Victor Rosas, Round 4 2:00
• Middleweight, Vincent Familari win by decision over Fernando Gonzalez, 49-46 (x2), 50-45
• Cruiserweight, Keith Richardson, win by TKO (doctor’s stoppage) over Cody Vidal, Round 2 2:00 

Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com.

By Dean McHugh.