Despite his considerations of discontinuing the promotion, he finally opted to stick with the original plan. I couldnt be happier., jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740. BKFC was founded in 2018, bringing sanctioned bare-knuckle boxing events to the U.S. for the first time since the late 1800s. ), Join DAZN and watch more than 100 fight nights a year. Thats how we were able to grow our fanbase., David Feldman: Right now, Im not going to say that its simple, but its a lot easier. The growth of it and how far its gone so fast is amazing but I really think were going to be a real big competitor in the combat sports landscape here probably in another 18 months. I want to be able to do those things and I cant right now, they understand why. We will be self-sustained as far as operations continue, the fighters, everything. I gave ten years of my life to try and get this thing sanctioned. Consumers Eye Magazine In April, I published a story about how Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship was ready to follow in the UFCs footsteps. David Feldman talks growth of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, company's future. It's not yet been two full years since bare-knuckle fighting made its U.S. revival at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) 1 in Cheyenne, WY. It got everybody talking because it was an unbelievable war, and that fight got out, the pictures went viral. Pay-per-view wrestling at least once a month. These scratch lines are based on the Broughton Rules, which governed bare knuckle fighting in the 19th century. Ahead of BKFCs 14th flagship show on Friday, the promotions president is happy to say he was right, especially given the growth of the sport worldwide. By that time I am sure we are really going to change the minds of a lot of people., David Feldman: I think we will certainly borrow some fans from boxing and MMA. Copyright 2005-2023 PYGOD Network. I thought that if you could do something that is a little bit more fast paced in todays environment, I like to call it the A.D.D [attention deficit disorder] environment. Sign up for the MMA Junkie newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning. And now, BKFC. He has a younger brother, David Feldman, who is the founder of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. I said, Look, I dont want this anymore. His last fight was in 2003. This is not the first time Feldman has made the news with BKFC. He just moves forward and he fights. A daily roundup of all your fighting news from MMA Fighting, By submitting your email, you agree to our, Mike Perry shows aftermath of breaking Luke Rockholds teeth with his fist at BKFC 41. (Editors note: This interview was edited for length and clarity. BKFC 1, which took place on June 2, 2018, featured the first-ever womens bare-knuckle bout sanctioned by the United States Boxing Federation in contemporary history. It also keeps the crowd engaged and it's nearly impossible to have a snoozer. That deal came together a year after BKFC put on one of the most talked about cards in all of combat sports when Artem Lobov faced off with former boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi. BKFC president David Feldman details the success of the recent KnuckleMania pay-per-view and praises Paige VanZant for her debut despite coming up short in a decision with talks already started on . Steven Muehlhausen is a contributing writer for DAZN News. [9], On February 24, 2022, David Feldman announced on Ariel Helwani's show that TrillerNet had acquired a majority stake of BKFC, while not disclosing the value of the deal or percentages of the stake.[10]. The pension plan does not take a portion of a fighters earnings, according to Feldman, but rather the organization has committed to matching a proportion of current contracts in order to put money into the pension account. Feldman is the son of Marty Feldman, a widely respected boxing trainer and member of the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Mike Richman at KnuckleMania 3 on February 17, 2023. Credit to founder and president David Feldman and his . We get the local fans and local community involved. ', From March 2018 to June 2018 they gave me that opportunity to be the first legally sanctioned bare knuckle fighting promotion. On July 24, 2020 it was announced that starting on August, DAZN will be streaming BKFC events. BILOXI, MS - AUGUST 25: Reggie Barnett fights James Clayton Burns during the Bare Knuckle Fighting [+] Championship 2: A New Era at Mississippi Coast Coliseum on August 25, 2018 in Biloxi, Mississippi. When Lobov and Knight knuckle up this evening in Biloxi, Mississippi, it will further illustrate how BKFC boss David Feldmans vision continues to soar and how the sport resonates with both mixed martial arts fans and boxing fans. I think they went in there as more of a show. Within a few days following Bec Rawlings triumph, the Bare-Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame honored this historic achievement by presenting her with the National Police Gazette World Diamond Belt, which was presented to her by the Hall of Fame. A lot of guys might go I dont want competition I want competition. One wonders what he would make of David Feldmans venture. All the stress, I cant spend as much time with my family. SN: What are the type of fighters who you're looking to bring in? A number of UFC veterans have tested their skills under the BKFC banner, including Mike Perry, Chad Mendes, Artem Lobov, Jason Knight, Paige VanZant, Rachael Ostovich, Bec Rawlings, and more. These are just two different breeds of guys and thats whats going to make for such an exciting fight.. It also creates a sense of urgency going into the final round if one fighter has been knocked down in a previous round, or it's obvious that a fighter is down on the scorecards or if it's two rounds a piece going into the fifth round. FELDMAN, 49, GREW up the son of a boxing trainer. . "Throughout this time period, Stewart continued to ask Feldman for a written contract evidencing their agreement and for more information regarding the finances and affairs of their venture," the complaint states. Its not in his DNA. Feldman has given a platform for both boxers and mixed martial artists to compete against each other in the most purest form of standup fighting. Its also providing fighters with another outlet after their mixed martial arts and boxing career to still compete in a combat sport thats arguably safer and more exciting than anything else currently out there. or thinks they have it. Yes, other combat sports have the same tools, however, their infrastructure and value proposition is already so established that its hard for them to make dramatic changes to adapt to the consumer. UFC every Saturday night. On Wednesday, the founder of the promotion, David Feldman, announced that Triller, a social media company that has expanded into the promotion of boxing and other combat sports, has acquired a majority stake of BKFC. I have a core three or four people that have worked with me since the beginning. And we've always given the fans what they want. DF: It is the growth of the sport. Tom Shoaff at BKFC 34 on December 3, 2022, 1. def. The offer was official, we talked to the team a couple of times. Feldman's father, nicknamed "The Hammer of . And any chance to bring more of that into the world is one he wants to take. It was all worth it. The first legally regulated Bare Knuckle Fighting company in the world! It was KnuckleMania, a tremendous event for us. . Bare Knuckle FC Fist Fighting League president David Feldman commented on the stoppage of the fight between Mike Perry and Luke Rockhold at the BKFC 41 tournament. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. However, while he does not claim that the pension would make BKFC fighters wealthy at the conclusion of their careers, he does expect that it will serve as a reliable safety net in times of need. Apr 26, 2023. I got three to five years left in this thing. Feldman is excited by the possibilities Lobov has an MMA background, while Malignaggi is a boxer but hes just as excited to further cement bare knuckles place in American combat sport. Its fun, its exciting, its fast paced. Unfortunately, Johnny Bedford got injured and had to pull out and Reggie Barnett stepped up and ironically he had some words with Dat Nguyen at his last fight, Feldman revealed. Feldman, the son of legendary boxing trainer and promoter Marty Feldman, claimed he was motivated to start the school by his own combat sports experiences, in which he saw countless fighters waste their money without putting themselves in a position to succeed in the future. Required fields are marked *. BKFC is the first promotion to hold an official state-sanctioned and commissioned bare-knuckle boxing event in the United States since 1889. I am a person who is driven, Feldman explained. What's so important about it is those local fans can now say that they've become fans and hopefully buy the PPV and watch whatever platform we're on in the future. Growing up with his father and brother, Feldman said, plus the coterie of boxers who were in and out of the house, he had no choice but to get involved with fighting in some way. I didnt know if it ever would get sanctioned, and finally it did. In the first ever event in June 2018, Joey Beltran and . That Poland fight was really cool because what they did initially when they advertised it as BKFC style fighting and I was like holy sh*t thats pretty cool! I have a core three or four people that have worked with me since the beginning. Now, you're doing events in Florida too. . SN: Did the success of not just that event but the entire year surprise you? I was just done, Feldman said. His brother, Damon Feldman, is as colorful a character as they come in boxing, known best for his celebrity stunt fights: Rodney King vs. a police officer, and fights featuring everyone from Danny Bonaduce to Jose Canseco and Tonya Harding (Damon also pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend last year, just one of several legal entanglements). SN: How do you temper everybody'sexpectations when you get big success because everyone wants to go bigger and bigger? Mississippi, and 20 more states have now allowed bare-knuckle fights. What does it mean to youthat you're starting to expand into different states? I think that's really the thing that took us by surprise was how much the pay-per-view was pirated and how to combat that. In this day and age of having metrics on demand in real time, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship has been able to adapt and pivot from the very beginning while assessing data. I am a passionate person, Feldman said. Imagine I am going into a board of commissioners, ten of them, and I say I want you to sanction bare knuckle fighting, because its safer than boxing and MMA. They are looking at me like what is wrong with this dude? His son, David Jr., had just been born after the fifth, and the dynamic between him and his father had deteriorated. I would do two simple things. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images), Early Returns From The New York Yankees And New York Mets Bring Mediocrity, Unlocking Josh Giddeys Offensive Game: The Rise Of The Thunders Perfect Sidekick, The Tampa Bay Rays Keep Finding New Ways To Fill Innings, Olympiacos Are The Best Basketball Team Outside The NBA, San Francisco 49ers Hoping Colton McKivitz Can Emulate Jake Brendel, Kelvin Hoefler And Rayssa Leal Win First SLS Championship Tour Stop In Chicago, Dillon Brooks Talks Like Jimmy Butler While Playing Like Ricky Davis, Dallas Cowboys Continue To Leave Door Open On Ezekiel Elliotts Return. Based in Philadelphia, and headed by president and former professional boxer David Feldman, BKFC is dedicated to preserving the historical legacy of bare-knuckle fighting, while . It was faced paced, exciting, shorter rounds and closer atmosphere. The really great thing is that next Wednesday BKFC becomes part of the Association of Boxing Comiisioners. The bare knuckle or the knee? They would all say the knee. The challenge.. [6] The Bare-Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame recognized this milestone and awarded the victor of this contest, Bec Rawlings, with the National Police Gazette World Diamond Belt several days after her victory. . David Feldman grew up the son of a boxing trainer and became a professional boxer himself, going 4-1 in his career. We think we're about two years ahead of the plan right now. Then we just moved on to September, October, November, December. April 14, 2021 1:00 pm ET . Mixed martial arts, he said, was akin to human cockfighting, an oft-repeated refrain that was part of his (and others) effort to regulate the sport out of existence. But 1 Said 'Yes', "The first appearance of an Iranian in BKFC", "Bare knuckles are coming out of the darkness", "Triller acquires 'majority stake' in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship", "BKFC Acquires England's Bare Fist Boxing Association", "Justin Thornton dies after BKFC 20 knockout loss to Dillon Cleckler in August", "Bare-knuckle fighter dies weeks after becoming paralysed following knockout loss", "Dana White asks "is anybody shocked?" Jesse Bernstein's writing has appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Tablet, The Forward, and the Jewish Review of Books. So I said lets do a live event where we can have fans. Bare-knuckle fighting has long been an underground hit, but until last March, when Wyoming got into the game, no state or federal body had legally sanctioned it. Im not in it for the money. But I would love to be continually involved with it in some way, shape or form. newsletter, Israel Adesanya Walkouts to Knockouts T-Shirt, Luke Rockhold reacts to BKFC 41 loss: Im not done. Bare Knuckle FC president David Feldman confirmed to MMA Fighting on Monday that fighter Justin Thornton had died after a loss to Dillon Cleckler on the BKFC 20 card Aug. 20 in Biloxi, Mississippi. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. You just cant do that.. Paige did wonders for us. Also I think its more adaptable to the common person than boxing or MMA. This ring incorporates elements of historical bare knuckle fighting by containing two scratch lines, three feet apart and in the middle of the ring. Every fight people go to, they watch it and they love it, especially live. On February 24, 2022, David Feldman announced on Ariel Helwani's show that TrillerNet had acquired a majority stake of BKFC, while not disclosing the value of the deal or percentages of the stake. As the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship continues to court free agents to join their roster, promotion officials will have a one-of-a-kind incentive to provide as an incentive to prospective fighters. And on that same shows where we're building our undercard, we're building our future stars. The elder Feldman was a middleweight boxer who went on to train popular Philadelphia fighters, including Prince Charles Williams, who held the IBF light-heavyweight belt from 1987 to 1993. Some have been working for free for more than two years. Earlier this month, BKFC executives announced a fighter pension plan that would begin with the organizations BKFC 17 event on April 30 in Birmingham, Alabama, and run until the end of the year. Russias doing some smaller leagues over there and I have TV rights deals over there so were going to be doing an event in Russia soon. Home Services Magazine Feldman had been in the gym since he was young, watching his father train world-class fighters, but he didnt have his first professional fight until he was 23. [2][3][4][5], BKFC was founded in April 2018 and is presided over by former American professional boxer David Feldman. David feldman bkfc net worth. BKFC was founded in 2018, bringing sanctioned bare-knuckle boxing events to the U.S. for the first time since the late 1800s. I cant just sit at home, but in three to five years I can get it to a point where I dont want to walk away from it, but I can consult whoever would be the predecessor. Founded Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) Some gloves would be nice, though, BKFC president David Feldman reveals why Luke Rockhold couldnt continue in BKFC 41 main event, Arnold Allen: No moral victory in Max Holloway fight, I got half my pay, I lost my winning streak, I missed out on a title shot. Get Jewish Exponent's Newsletter by email and never miss our top storiesWe do not share data with third party vendors. It is a requirement that each fighter must start each round with their front foot on their scratch line. Ryan Nixon/BKFC. ", "After exceeding expectations in first bare knuckle event, Bare Knuckle FC ready to usher in 'new era', "Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship to Be 1st Event of Its Kind in USA Since 1889", "BKFC 9 Results: Jason Knight avenges loss to Artem Lobov with fifth-round KO, Joey Beltran captures heavyweight title", "BKFC 30 results, video: 292 lb Ben Rothwell destroys Bobo O'Bannon in 19 seconds", "Bare Knuckle FC 22 results: Lorenzo Hunt wins cruiserweight championship over Hector Lombard", "BKFC unable to come to terms with Dat Nguyen, new 135-pound champion to be crowned in July", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bare_Knuckle_Fighting_Championship&oldid=1152761123, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) boss David Feldman says he's in advanced talks with Shaquille O'Neal over an investment deal.. "On information and belief, Feldman has transferred Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship to other entities in order to defraud Stewart of his forty percent interest in the business," the complaint alleges. It took seven years for Feldman to convince one state, Wyoming, to legally sanction and apply regulations to a bare-knuckle fight and, on June 2, 2018, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 1: The Beginning featured 12 fights. And if this gets to where were planning to be, its going to be a monster. He didnt expect to like promoting, and he still doesnt like promoting qua promoting. "Look, it might not be life-changing for them, but at that time, it could be," Feldman said. The Monday press conference featuring Paul Malignaggi and Artem Lobov, touting their June 22 scrap in Florida on a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship card the . Joe Riggs at BKFC 24 on April 30, 2022 It should be a lot easier for us to then open up these doors., David Feldman: I was offered a lot of money just last week to sell. Thus, we're really expanding this thing at a very nice pace for us. They both have a killer instinct as you saw with Jim Alers jumping off in each and every one of his fights trying to crack the guys. This whole thing has been a risk. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Baltimores Child Everything about it was real. We have two very big either platform or network deals in talks right now and hoping to close that out within the next 30 to 60 days. So we'll go from anywhere, but they have to be able to want to fight. Neither of them has a reverse gear, Feldman said about Alers vs. Palomino. UFC veteran Felipe Colares dead at 29 after being hit by bus. The fans love it and the fighters love it., David Feldman: Absolutely. He has a 73-0 record in bouts that have taken place in parking garages, warehouses, repair shops, and other shady locales, among other things. At BKFC 3, Arnold Adams defeated Sam Shewmaker in the finals of an eight man tournament to be crowned as the inaugural BKFC Heavyweight Champion. The matchmaking and regulations were criticised following the news on social media and by UFC president Dana White. BKFC boss David Feldman (Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship), Wrestling World Champions and their women. Founder and president of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship David Feldman said in an interview with Chris Van Vliet that he was recently offered a generous amount of money to sell the promotion . Before the show takes place, BKFC president David Feldman satdown with Sporting News to look back at 2019, the growth of the organization and what type of competitors he's looking to bringin. He would tap it a little bit. This page was last edited on 2 May 2023, at 04:19. His father, the late Marty Feldman, was a seasoned boxing trainer. In the year that Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships has been doing business, a lot of things have happened - and not all of it unpleasant. Ultimately the answer was no. This is a voluntary contribution. I dont mean we overpaid what her value to us is, I mean we overpaid her compared to what other people were going to pay her. Definitely she was every bit as valuable to us as what we paid for her, so it worked for us. . [8] In February, 2019, former UFC light heavyweight title contender Anthony Johnson announced that he will be joining the company in an administrative role. Why dont you start the discussion? We have compiled data that shows that in our fights we have less injuries than in boxing and MMA. Thats definitely sitting on an island somewhere. Same with boxing. You know a sport is resonating with fans once the oddsmakers a piece of the action. He aims to allay any fears of a possible bait-and-switch or the notion that anything sinister is in the works in the interim. Why Do Women Prefer Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Over Other Martial Arts? Were now just going to have more assets, more resources, and more possibilities.. I feel closer to those that lost their livelihoods. It took seven years for Feldman to convince one state, Wyoming, to legally sanction and apply regulations to a bare-knuckle fight and, on June 2, 2018, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 1: The Beginning featured 12 fights.