BKFC 41 turned out the be the biggest event of a busy Saturday in combat sports, with the bareknuckle promotion easily stealing the show from an underwhelming UFC Fight Night card.
Big performances from Ben Rothwell and Eddie Alvarez had fans pumped for the main event, but things took a turn in the second round when it appeared Luke Rockhold wanted out of his fight with Mike Perry. Now we know why — as many suspected, Rockhold not only had his teeth “messed up,” as BKFC President David Feldman stated following the event, but at least one was broken. Possibly two.
Rockhold put the damage on display in a video posted to social media on Sunday — and from the sounds of it, he’s done with bareknuckle boxing, but not combat sports as a whole.
“Well f*ck. What can I say. You can check bareknuckle off the list. Some crazy sh*t,” Rockhold stated in the clip, adding “Those little knuckles got me. Square on the front two. Maybe a beard, maybe a better mouth piece. It was a good fight, it was a shame it had to end that way. Motherf*cker Mike, you tough bastard. Congrats.”
“Thanks to my sponsors, thanks to the people. I’m not done. Some gloves would be nice though.”
Could that signal a move to traditional boxing, or a return to mixed martial arts? Time will tell. Rockhold, a former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion, was making his bareknuckle debut against Mike Perry on Saturday. He last competed in MMA in August of 2022, losing a decision against Paulo Costa at UFC 288.
