During his recent interview with MMA Hour BKFC founder David Feldman announced that the social media company and fight promotion known as Triller has acquired “a majority stake” in his organization.
Feldman stated that BKFC grew to the maximum of its potential and in order to get to the next level it needs a partnership. It will allow promotion to hire new fighters and take better care of those already signed. He also said that this partnership will bring more opportunities, more resources, and more funding. It was a long road full of obstacles, but finally, BKFC became fully accepted in the combat sports community.
“We see this as both a natural evolution and also a revolution for combat sports,” said Fight Club’s Ryan Kavanaugh. “We have long admired the tenacity, ferocity, and passion of both the fighters and the team of BKFC. This is the most obvious win-win in the history of combat sports,” added Kavanaugh. “Our goal has been to continue to bring the younger generation and combat sports viewership together, something that has been diverging up until our involvement, and BKFC does just that. We admire that they fought an uphill battle to create a newly regulated combat sport, and now to have it be the fastest growing combat sport is a real testament to BKFC founder and CEO, Dave Feldman’s vision and his and his team’s ability to execute.”
Feldman stated, ” We feel that by combining with Triller and bringing BKFC into the Trillerverz we can supercharge the growth even further than we have, and quickly bring BKFC further into the mainstream. Triller’s access to talent and marketing prowess combined with our innovative production value and massive loyal following is truly a case where 1+1 = 11. All I can say is that with this partnership BKFC has cemented itself as a major player in the combat sports world,” Feldman added, “All the raw authenticity that our fans have come to expect will remain the same and all programming will remain on the BKTV app.”
Triller Verzuz will be a major stakeholder in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, but the promotion will remain as it is and nothing will change from the operational side of things. Feldman said that bare-knuckle boxing is legal in 14 states and the goal is to increase this number to 22 by the end of the year.
BKFC was founded back in 2018 and runs its operations from Philadelphia. It became the first promotion to promote sanctioned bare-knuckle boxing fights in the US since 1889. BKFC held 27 events and has acquired services of notable individuals from both MMA and boxing such as Chad Mendes, Artem Lobov, Bec Rawlings, Chris Leben, Paulie Malignaggi, Paige VanZant, and Mike Perry.
Triller found its own approach toward combat sports mixing hip – hop culture and entertaining exhibition bouts between boxing legends Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. Jake Paul fights and boxing matchups between former UFC champions Anderson Silva, Tito Ortiz, and Vitor Belfort. In November 2021 Triller presented its’ Triad Combat event utilizing a hybrid ruleset and headlined by boxing vs. MMA fight between Kubrat Pulev and Frank Mir.
