Alright, so I’ve been digging into this whole bare knuckle fighting scene, specifically BKFC, trying to figure out how much these fighters actually make. It’s a wild world out there, let me tell you.
First off, I started by just googling around, you know, the usual “how much do bare knuckle fighters make” type of search. What I found was a bunch of scattered info, but nothing too concrete at first. Some sources were saying that the average fighter earns a couple thousand dollars per fight, while others were throwing out numbers in the hundreds of thousands. I was like, “Okay, that’s a huge range. I need to get to the bottom of this.”
Then, I stumbled upon some articles talking about specific events, like BKFC 28 in New Mexico. They mentioned that the fighter payouts were released, but when I tried to find the actual list, I kept hitting dead ends. It was frustrating, to say the least.
I kept digging, and I found out that BKFC was founded in 2018 by this guy named David Feldman. Apparently, it’s been gaining popularity, and some big names from the fighting world are starting to get involved. This got me thinking, “If big names are involved, the money must be decent, right?”
Diving Deeper into the Numbers
So, I started focusing on the top earners in BKFC. I found some reports saying that the highest earners are making around $500,000 to $1.2 million per fight. That’s a lot of cash, but it’s still way less than what UFC fighters are making. It made me wonder why there’s such a big difference.
- From what I gathered, the lower-tier fighters are starting at around $2,000 to $9,000 per fight.
- That’s not too shabby, but it’s definitely not enough to live like a king.
- And get this, most of these fighters don’t have a guaranteed salary. They’re basically making money based on their fight purses and bonuses.
The Big Paydays
Then I saw this thing about KnuckleMania 4, and apparently, there were some pretty big payouts there. This one fighter, Mike Perry, he reportedly made $600 just for showing up. That’s insane! Other top fighters were pulling in $100,000 to $150,000. So, it’s clear that there’s definitely money to be made at the top level.
What really got me was hearing that BKFC’s revenue went from $500,000 in 2018 to being valued at $411 million now. I mean, that’s a crazy jump! And this one guy, Art Davie, who founded the UFC, he’s saying that if Feldman plays his cards right, he could be a billionaire. It’s wild to think about how much this sport has grown in such a short time.
So, after all this digging, it seems like the money in bare knuckle fighting is all over the place. You’ve got some fighters making a few grand, others making hundreds of thousands, and then the top dogs pulling in over half a million. It’s a risky business, that’s for sure. But hey, if you’re tough enough and you can make it to the top, there’s definitely some serious cash to be made.
