SUMMARY
- David Feldman is the owner and founder of the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.
- Check out how Feldman came up with the idea of BKFC.
David Feldman is the proud owner and founder of the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. This promotion has been labeled by many as the world’s fastest-growing combat sports promotion of the past 5 years. The Pennsylvanian-born former professional boxer has built up his promotion into a global platform since its inception in 2018.
Feldman has taken a sport that never really existed before and given it a new face on the world stage. He is solely responsible for the incredible heights the promotion has scaled in recent years. A former pro-boxer with a professional record of 4-1-0 started with bricks and mortar and now has a solid foundational estate that can only go one way from here onward.
David’s father was a boxing trainer who owned the West Philly gym. Growing up in a gym is what made Feldman fall in love with the sport of boxing. Who knew that one day he would have raked in a whole lot of bags of money owing to his innovation and creation in the world of combat sports?
— Bare Knuckle FC (@bareknucklefc) January 31, 2024
After all, all David really did was take off the boxing gloves to make the sport even more dangerous than it already is. Along the way, he also managed to make some bread for himself. But how much is he really worth? What is his net worth?
According to reports, in May 2023, David Feldman had a net worth of an estimated $500,000. For someone whose organization was founded in April 2018, that is a huge amount of money. Furthermore, there is no doubt that Feldman’s net worth must have only grown since then, thanks to his ever-increasing success with the BKFC promotion.
How did David Feldman come up with the idea of BKFC?
The Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is now an established combat sports promotion. But even the fastest-growing combat sports promotion was once just an idea that was then implemented. So how did David Feldman come up with the idea of bare-knuckle fighting?
To answer that question, fans will have to go back in time to the days when David met a Canadian bare-knuckle fighter by the name of Bobby Gunn in the year 2010. Many might not know who he is, but he was a big name in the underground bare-knuckle fighting scene.
David Feldman was inspired by Bobby’s character and decided to fight for the sport and revive it. He took it upon himself to legitimize the sport in America, which had been shunned for a long time. It was not a cup of tea for him, though, as he was constantly criticized by not just the common masses but also by Dana White, the CEO of the UFC.
Even after facing rejections from athletic state commissions, Feldman did not give up on his idea and has now been successful in building an industry that started as an inspiration. Finally, BKFC held the first bare-knuckle fight in the USA since 1889. This was after they received approval to hold a sanctioned event in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Recent successes and big names related to BKFC
Combat sports are some of the most exciting and dynamic kinds of sports out there. But even such sports require that x-factor that adds something new to the field. The Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is exactly that X-factor. It brings with it something that has never been seen before.
And BKFC has made sure their graph keeps going higher and higher. On February 2, 2024, BKFC will host its 57th headlined main event in Hollywood. In the five years of its existence, BKFC has achieved global status in terms of viewership. What’s more is that, on January 26, 2024, BKFC secured a strategic deal with Fubo TV. A platform that has been streaming BKFC events for some time now.
@BryceHall Full fight here! https://t.co/wvAUoA1vRD
— Bare Knuckle FC (@bareknucklefc) August 12, 2023
BKFC 48, which was headlined by Bryce Hall, a social media influencer, and Gee Perez, garnered the most views ever on Fubo TV for a live event. Mike Perry, the former UFC welterweight, is without a doubt the most renowned name in BKFC history to date. The 32-year-old is also the #1-ranked contender in the middleweight division of BKFC.
A few other notable names related to the organization are Arnold Adams, the first heavyweight champion of BKFC. Anthony Johnson, who assumed administrative duties in the promotion. Johnson is a former UFC light-heavyweight contender.
Furthermore, in a recent interview, David Feldman revealed that as many as 13 new fighters are under the radar to be signed into the BKFC. He went on to say that these fighters are from various different organizations, including the UFC, Bellator, and two boxing world champions.
Chad Mendes, known best for his time in the UFC, has also signed with BKFC. He was a three-time featherweight title challenger in the UFC. These sure seem to be a lot of big names for a business that was coined to be “too raw” and “too violent” by people while writing it off.
David Feldman talks about a BKFC reality TV show
David Feldman was featured in an interview on the LowKick MMA YouTube channel, where he talked about a lot of things. One part of it revolved around whether BKFC plans to develop a reality TV show in the future.
The interviewer, Makoa Goble, asked, “Have you guys ever considered doing some type of reality TV show? We saw with the UFC. That The Ultimate Fighter was a giant part of their early growth. And I’ve also noticed you guys have been putting on events called the Prospect Series for young up-and-coming talent.”
Goble furthered his question, saying, “Maybe you guys could do a reality TV show in the same style of The Ultimate Fighter Embedded, but with your own personal spin on it.” David acknowledged the question and answered, “Yeah. Great question. And actually even better timing because there’s a television conference that’s happening in New Orleans right now as we speak.”
David went on to say, “And we’re pitching our reality show to a bunch of different networks right now. So perfect, perfect time and great question. Yes. The answer is yes, absolutely. We want it. Absolutely. And I really think we’re going to get it because these guys have amazing stories.”
This news comes as a welcome surprise to BKFC fans around the globe. It will be a great help for all the fans to know their fighters better and connect with them even more.
Does Conor McGregor have a partnership with BKFC?
Another important point raised by the interviewer in the interview was about UFC legend Conor McGregor. It was rather about his relationship with David and the partnership that both of them enjoy. For those who are unaware, Conor McGregor-owned Forged Irish Stout has partnered up with the BKFC. Which makes McGregor directly related to David Feldman’s BKFC in a way.
Goble asked Feldman, “I know you guys have partnered with Conor McGregor’s Forged Irish Stout. The relationship between you guys seems to be very strong. Conor seems to be a giant fan of what you’re doing with BKFC. What does it mean to have a guy like McGregor helping to shine a light on the BKFC?”
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Feldman didn’t refrain from praising McGregor. He answered, “You can’t buy it with money, right? You can’t. If he talks about it, if he does his thing that he does and helps blow this thing up, it’s worth more than anything. It was a great partnership for us. It’s awesome to be involved with a brand like that and a person like Connor. And I think it’s just going to help blow things up.”
Feldman further teased BKFC fans, saying, “And we have a lot, a lot of other big announcements coming up, man. This is going to be a crazy three to four weeks for us coming up.” This is sure to be the perfect time to be a combat sports fan. Especially a BKFC fan and be able to closely follow the promotion, which is redefining the landscape of MMA.
