It’s been more than a minute since Thiago Alves was last seen in action, but that changes this weekend at BKFC’s KnuckleMania 4, where “Pitbull” faces Mike Perry in the bare-knuckle card’s main event.
Alves, who fought Georges St-Pierre at UFC 100 for that promotion’s welterweight championship, was the inaugural BKFC middleweight champion, but has not competed since winning that title in 2021. At 2-0 in bare-knuckle, he’s giving the sport another go in arguably the biggest show in company history, on April 27 in Los Angeles.
“David Feldman called me about four weeks ago, made me a good offer, and I said yes,” Alves told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview promoting the event. “Let’s get it done. It’s a big opportunity. Big risk, but big reward. Fighting Mike Perry at Knuckle Mania 4, I’m ready to go, man. It’s going to be fun.”
KnuckleMania 4 opponent Perry has become known as the ‘King of Violence’ and even holds a symbolic title recognizing him as such. That’s an accolade Alves himself would like to usurp.
Asked about Perry, “I think he’s great for BKFC, definitely the golden boy of BKFC,” stated Alves. “But I think he has a lot of mistakes inside of that square cage, and I’m going to capitalize on those mistakes and make him pay for them. And I’m going to be the King of Violence.”
That said, Saturday will not mark the start of a fresh run for Pitbull in combat sports. In fact it’s likely to mark his retirement.
“Nah, this will probably be my last fight. I’m 40 years old now,” Alves said when asked about carrying on. “I’ve got a lot of great things happening outside of fighting. I wasn’t training with the fight in mind, but bareknuckle boxing made me a great offer to come in, headline the show, and here we are. But this most likely will be my last one.”
Watch our full interview with BKFC KnuckleMania 4’s Thiago Alves above.
