Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) has announced BKFC-82, set for Saturday, October 4th at the famed Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The show will be headlined by the return of ‘The King of Violence,’ “Platinum” Mike Perry, defending his bare knuckles light heavyweight title against Jeremy ‘Lil Heathen’ Stephens.Tickets will go on sale Tuesday, August 19th at 12:00 p.m. ET and can be purchased online at BKFC.com. BKFC-82 will stream live on DAZN in over 200 countries. “It’s been a longtime coming but we’re honored to promote our first event in New Jersey and at a world class venue, Prudential Center,” said David Feldman, founder and president of the Philadelphia-based BKFC. “Mike Perry vs. Jeremy Stephens is truly a bare-knuckle clash between two of the toughest and most popular fighters in combat sports and is the perfect headliner for the biggest event we’ve promoted since our inception in 2018. We’re also going to load up the undercard with many of our best bare-knuckle fighters and I strongly encourage fans to purchase their tickets well in advance as we expect another record setting sellout crowd.”
With an attendance of 17,762 on Saturday, January 25th at the Wells Fargo Center, KnuckleMania V set a modern-day combat sports benchmark for the city of Philadelphia.
Perry said, “a Platinum Performance is set to take place! Everyone in the Prudential Center and those watching on DAZN will feel the impact! Tune into my latest and greatest ‘King of Violence’ battle."
Stephens replied, “Delusions to reality, I said I was going to do it and I did it. Hardest hitting 145 pounder stepping up to 175 to be crowned the new King of Violence. The king of the barbarians is home.”
“As Prudential Center continues to cement itself as New Jersey’s home for marquee combat sports, hosting the inaugural Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship event in our state opens an exciting new chapter for our company,” said Dylan Wanagiel, a vice president at HBSE/Prudential Center. “We take pride in our diverse lineup of programming. This groundbreaking event in Newark delivers to tri-state area fight fans one of the fastest growing sports in the world.”
Perry, (5-0), made his imprint quickly in BKFC defeating bare-knuckle hardcore veteran Julian Lane over five rounds at KnuckleMania II on February 19, 2022. Following up on August 20, 2022 at London, England’s iconic Wembley Arena, Perry was victorious against hometown MMA Superstar Michael Page in a memorable clash decided by a sixth sudden-death round which instantly became an international viral sensation.
Back in the United States on April 29, 2023, Perry demolished Luke Rockhold over two rounds towards a stoppage victory. Facing off against MMA legend Eddie Alvarez on December 2, 2023, Perry battered his way towards a stoppage at the end of round two. Headlining KnuckleMania V on April 27, 2024 in Los Angeles, CA, Perry savagely stopped former BKFC World Champion Thiago Alves in the opening round.
Following a professional MMA career Jeremy “Lil Heathen” Stephens, (3-0 in BKFC) smashed his way into the BKFC upper echelon on January 25, 2025 with a third-round stoppage of hometown legend Eddie Alvarez in front of a sold-out crowd at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Previously Stephens had defeated Bobby Taylor on September 6, 2024 and stopped Jimmie Rivera in the third round on December 2, 2023.
