BKFC 96 Glasgow: Cooke vs. Weir
Bout Order
Bout order runs main event first. “Unconfirmed” means only one verified source lists the bout so far.
The Promotion
How It Started
Promoter David Feldman founded Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship in Philadelphia in 2018. On June 2, 2018, BKFC 1 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, became the first legal, state-sanctioned bare-knuckle event in the United States since 1889. That first night also held the first sanctioned women’s bare-knuckle fight of the modern era.
The Squared Circle
BKFC fights in a round, four-rope ring it calls the Squared Circle. Two scratch lines sit three feet apart in the middle, a nod to the old Broughton Rules, and every round starts with the call to “Toe the line” and then “Knuckle up.” Its first champion, Arnold Adams, won an eight-man heavyweight tournament at BKFC 3 in Biloxi in October 2018.
Building a League
Biloxi and Tampa became early homes, and cards spread to Cancún, Thailand and across the American South. UFC veterans such as Paige VanZant, Hector Lombard, Thiago Alves, Luis Palomino and Mike Perry gave it star power. Palomino became its first two-division champion in 2022. In February 2022, Triller bought a majority stake.
Going Global
BKFC debuted in London in August 2022 with Perry against Michael Page, then bought a British bare-fist promotion to launch a UK arm. A Thailand branch ran from 2021 to 2024. A Prospects Series began in 2023 to find new talent, and KnuckleMania became its yearly tentpole show.
The McGregor Era
At KnuckleMania IV in Los Angeles in April 2024, Conor McGregor was announced as a part-owner. Since then BKFC has added a talent-sharing deal with RIZIN, a long-term DAZN broadcast deal, Ice Wars fights on ice, warehouse-style Fight Club nights and the Blood4Blood show with heavy metal. Its cards now run in Europe, Australia, South America and every corner of the US.
Where It Stands
More than 170 events in, BKFC is the biggest bare-knuckle promotion in the world. It runs most weeks, mixing big BKFC numbered cards with regional Fight Nights like a recent sold-out return to Clearwater’s OCC Road House.
