BKFC President Reveals Plans for $25 Million Tournament in 2025

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship has something in special in store for the coming year.

BKFC president David Feldman recently announced that the promotion will hold a $25 million tournament — “the biggest, baddest tournament that ever took place” — beginning in April 2025.

“It’s going to spread out between nine or 12 months. There’s going to be tryouts, qualifying rounds and those qualifying rounds are going to take place in five different continents,” Feldman said during a post-fight press conference following BKFC Hollywood.

“We’re close to locking in a huge streaming platform that’s going to have the rights to this thing, so everything is really falling in place. I can’t give you all the details, but it will be the biggest, baddest, biggest prize money to find the baddest motherf—ker on the face of this earth.”

It’s currently unclear how the prize money will be distributed. However, even the promotion’s biggest stars apparently won’t be given preferential treatment when it comes to participation.

“Everyone has to try out for it. No one is getting pre-qualified,” Feldman said. “They have to try out for it and they’re going to have to fight in qualifying rounds to make the tournament. I mean, it’s not a joke purse. It’s a real purse, so they have to really fight.”

One of the aspects still in the works for the tournament is the division.

“We’re contemplating that now. It’s gonna be a bigger, meaning a wider-spread weight class. I don’t know what that weight class is yet,” Feldman said.

The Philadelphia-based BKFC has gained a foothold in the combat sports world since its inception in 2018 thanks to a fan-friendly product and a roster that has included former MMA talents such as Mike Perry, Eddie Alvarez, Luke Rockhold, John Dodson, Alan Belcher, Bec Rawlings, Ben Rothwell and Jason Knight, to name a few. Additionally, former UFC two-division champion Conor McGregor became a part owner in BKFC earlier this year.

According to Feldman, the tournament isn’t the only significant development on the horizon.

“2025 is just going to be unbelievably huge,” Feldman said. We have a lot of announcements that we’re going to make… We’re in the process of an acquisition that’s gonna change combat sports… We’re in the position to acquire a major sports promoting platform that’s gonna change the face of combat sports.”