Mike Perry is nearing his return to bare-knuckle fighting.

Following a brief crossover to boxing for a showdown against Jake Paul back in July, Perry is being targeted for his next fight in BKFC at the promotion’s first event in Philadelphia in December. Pennsylvania just recently sanctioned bare-knuckle fighting and BKFC president David Feldman is wasting no time bring an event to his home state.

“It was like a kid in a candy store,” Feldman told MMA Fighting after getting word that Pennsylvania was sanctioning bare-knuckle fighting. “It was like I get to do this in my home state. We’re targeting a mid-December date for our first show. Huge show in a huge arena.

“It’s going to be great. Mike [Perry] and we’re talking to Eddie [Alvarez] about coming back for another fight. It’ll be a super, super stacked card. We actually have some current really good professional boxers that have been hitting us up. It’s going to be stacked. There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll sell every single seat in the biggest arena in Philly. No doubt in my mind.”

Perry last appeared in BKFC back in April when he dispatched UFC veteran Thiago Alves in just 60 seconds to move his bare-knuckle record to 5-0. He didn’t have as much luck going against Paul in the boxing ring with Perry suffering a sixth-round TKO loss but now he’s returning to BKFC where he’s arguably become the face of the entire promotion.

Feldman says he couldn’t imagine a better fit than bringing Perry to Philadelphia while teasing another big-named opponent for the upcoming fight.

“I’m working on Mike’s opponent right now,” Feldman said. “If I tie that up, I think everybody’s going to be like ‘oh shit, really? How did you do that?’ It’s going to be amazing. I’m targeting to be the biggest card we’ve ever done as the homecoming. Everybody’s excited about it.”

“Philly is a working-class city. Mike Perry is a working-class guy. He’ll fit in very well with the fans there. He’s that kind of guy. We’ll get Conor McGregor to come to the event and just take it over the top. It’s literally going to be unbelievable.”

Of course, McGregor became a part-owner in BKFC back in April and he’s made several appearances at recent events while drawing interest to the bare-knuckle fights.

The date for the Philadelphia card is currently targeted for either Dec. 13 or Dec. 14, and Feldman has another surprise in mind with a big football game taking place that same weekend.

“We’re targeting the weekend where the Eagles are playing the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Feldman said. “So we’re going to do some Pittsburgh versus Philly guys on the card, too, so that’s going to be great.

“That show’s going to be sick. It’s going to be unbelievable. It’s going to be the biggest moment of my professional career absolutely, that will be unbelievable.”

Team members are also expected to wear their black away kit, which pays tribute to the disaster.

Parkinson added: “Today we showed the lads, and it’s more for the new players, a short video to make sure everyone’s got a clear understanding of the poignancy of the weekend.”

The club remains determined to show their respects to those involved in the tragedy on September 22, 1934.

Co-owner Rob McElhenney has visited the mining wheel in Gresford and the Miners Rescue Station.

Both of Wrexham’s kits for the 2024-25 campaign include a pit wheel graphic and “266” on the nape in tribute to those who died in the disaster.

The game with Crawley comes just five days after Wrexham suffered their first loss of the League One campaign.

Parkinson’s side were beaten 3-1 by Birmingham City on Monday night, but remain at the summit of the third tier table after their opening six league fixtures.

“We’re not going to get too downbeat about the defeat, we’re going to learn from it and look forward to the weekend’s game,” added Parkinson.

“Crawley have had quite a lot of change in personnel, but they’ve recruited well and they look outside the box.

“It’s going to be one of those games like we’ve played before, we’ve got to make sure we give them the utmost respect, but be ready to impose ourselves on them as a team.”

Conor McGregor Next Fight Facts

The Conor McGregor next fight predictions will be made in part based on how McGregor and Chandler have fared in the past. Wise sports bettors will dive into some of these details before considering placing a wager, as the stylistic differences, Chandler’s superior record in submissions and McGregor’s edges in height, reach and age could all make a difference in how one wants to bet on this event.

UFC Tale of the Tape

Here is a detailed chart for the next fight of Conor McGregor, as it highlights some of the strengths and weaknesses of McGregor and Chandler (information per tapology.com).

Conor McGregor UFC Betting Performance

McGregor’s next fight, his comeback bout, was scheduled for June 29. Officials are hoping to reschedule it for August or September. He was listed as a slight favorite over Michael Chandler. McGregor has only been an underdog once in his career – in his last fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. Here is a look at the odds and results of his last 14 UFC events (results and odds per tapology.com).

The Ultimate Fighter 31

Conor McGregor’s next fight isn’t limited to his physical battle with Michael Chandler, as McGregor and Chandler took on coaching roles for The Ultimate Fighter Season 31 in 2023. This show highlights what happens when aspiring MMA fighters live and train together for their upcoming UFC fights.

In this past season, they did so by getting coaching insights from two of the greatest MMA/UFC fighters of all time. This was McGregor’s second stint as a TUF coach, as he led a squad in season 22 versus a team coached by Urijah Faber.

McGregor vs Chandler: Technical MMA Matchup

A big part of how the Conor McGregor next UFC fight date will play out in the ring will be which weight class this fight ends up in, as McGregor has indicated he wanted the battle to take place at 185 pounds. Chandler, in response to McGregor’s video post, said he was fine with fighting at 185 pounds.

The matchup, though, will take place in the welterweight division, up to 170 pounds, not as heavier middleweights, UFC boss Dana White said.

The heavier weight class might have favored McGregor, who would prefer that this match be a slower-paced brawl, but Chandler has shown that he can go toe-to-toe in brawls and has greatly improved his kicking of late. Chandler’s preference would be to go with a faster, wrestling-centric approach, as he was a NCAA Division I All-American wrestler at the University of Missouri and has posted 30 percent of his career wins via submission because of this skill set.

Early Conor McGregor Next Fight Prediction

Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler have both predicted that they will knock the other person out in Conor McGregor’s next fight. The betting public doesn’t see either as a clear favorite, but McGregor’s advantage in power, age and reach should give him enough of an edge. 

Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists where we shine a light on fights from across the globe that may have been overlooked in these hectic times where it seems like there’s an MMA show every other day.

Here at Missed Fists headquarters, we like to think that we’re above resorting to freakshow tactics to catch your eye, especially when there’s so much legitimate combat sports competition around the world. After all, far be it from us to shine a light on carnival attractions disguised as legitimate fighting endeavors. Us? Emphasize curiosities and oddities? Never.

All that said, sometimes you have to just get out of the way and let the voice of the people be heard.

And the people want to see fellas kicking each other in their wieners, apparently.

(Big thanks as always to @Barrelelapierna for their weekly lists of the best KOs and submissions, and to @Grabaka_Hitman for uploading many of the clips you see here. Give them a follow and chip in on Patreon if you can.)

Fight Circus

Yes, that’s two gentlemen voluntarily kicking each other in the groin. And yes, that’s UFC veteran Matt Brown overseeing the festivities, and seemingly having a great time with it.

Look, the Fight Circus folks surely aren’t the first degenerates in the world to host a good, ol’ fashioned Roshambo’ing, but they were bold enough to film this and put it out on the interwebs for all to see, so they deserve whatever notoriety is coming their way as a result. Innovators, as always.

From what I can glean, there are actually some rules here, as you can see that they’re not just straight toe-kicking each other in the yabos. This is clean shin-to-twins action, all above board. “The Immortal” surely wouldn’t let any shenanigans sully this potentially booming sport.

We can expect the full video to be released soon, perhaps as part of an upcoming Fight Circus release. Until then, just put these clips on loop, comfortable in the knowledge that, as many commenters have noted, this is still less dumb than Power Slap.

Ku Tae Won vs. Khun Krai

Before we get to the mixing of the martial arts, here’s Ku Tae Won scoring the most thrilling knockout of the weekend at a Fairtex Fight Muay Thai show in Thailand.

I don’t even know how one thinks to throw a strike like that in that situation, much less with such accuracy. Khun Krai clearly didn’t expect it either as he was left flattened for an uncomfortable amount of time.

Catch more Fairtex Fight action for free on YouTube.

Lina Narvaez vs. Yasmeli Araque
Juliana Otalora vs. Eliana Toledo

Our theme of the week is high kick setups (not, uh, low kicks between the legs) and we saw plenty of great ones, including this classic Muay Thai approach from Lina Narvaez.

She’s just tapping that toe, lulling her opponent into a false sense of security, and then BAM! Ya kicked. Narvaez followed with ground-and-pound to secure the finish, but I bet she could have walked that one off. I know I wouldn’t be trying to get up after eating a shot like that.

Earlier on the card, Juliana Otalora also scored a kick finish, but of the body variety.

Check the replay if you didn’t catch what happened at first. Otalora just drives her toes into Eliana Toledo’s stomach, almost impaling her with them. There’s a reason to stop fighting if I’ve ever seen one.

A replay Empire MMA 9 can be watched for free on YouTube.

Damien Deleon vs. Tristan Reyes

In an amateur bout at Xtreme Knockout 86 (replay available via TrillerTV pay-per-view) in Fort Worth, Texas, Damien Deleon spun Tristan Reyes around with a leg kick, followed with a right hand, and then unleashed a high strike that caused Reyes to crumble.

Deleon had so much energy left over that he had to run up both cage walls afterwards to burn it off.

Evgeniy Markov vs. Timur Tsopboev

You want a setup? How about a spinning kick into a spinning kick!

From a Russian Cagefighting Championship event in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Evgeniy Markov buzzed Timur Tsopboev with a head kick, clipped him with a leg kick, hurt him with a kick to the body, and then just fired a spin kick that Tsopboev circled right into.

Watch for the kicks, man!

Mostafa Abdo vs. Ibrahim Mahmoud

You know what the best setup of all is, though? No setup.

Very zen.

Mostafa Abdo touched gloves and then landed one of the most telegraphed head kicks I’ve ever seen to beat Ibrahim Mahmoud in three seconds. Then again, perhaps the genius of the maneuver is that it was so obvious that Mahmoud assumed there was no way that’s what Abdo was actually doing? That’s four-dimensional chess.

Catch a free replay of Evolution Championship 98 on YouTube.

Ernesto Schisano vs. Jhonata Vasconcelos

As far as punch knockouts go, it’s hard to beat Ernesto Schisano straight one-shotting Jhonata Vasconcelos at Way of Warrior 15 (replay available on UFC Fight Pass) in Madrid, Spain.

Watch how Vasconcelos inadvertently squares up his chin for Schisano during that exchange. It was tee-ball after that.

Osvaldo Gonzalez vs. Ethan Sims

Lastly, from Fight For It 22 (PPV replay available on their website) in Rock Hill, S.C., we have one for the “Don’t Call It A Comeback Because It Isn’t” department.

Osvaldo Gonzalez turned on the gas and though opponent Ethan Sims showed some serious heart, including a near knockdown of his own that was probably more of a slip, Gonzalez poured it on until Sims joined our list of rag dolls this week.

If you know of a recent fight or event that you think may have been overlooked, or a promotion that could use some attention, please let us know on X — @AlexanderKLee — using the hashtag #MissedFists.

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‘She was leader of the band’

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Getty Images