The Hall at Live Casino

Mike Perry makes his return at BKFC KnuckleMania 4 on Saturday. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC MMA Fighting has the BKFC KnuckleMania 4 fight card for the Perry vs. Alves event from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Saturday night. In the main event, Mike Perry tries to keep his perfect BKFC record intact when he squares off against Thiago Alves in a light heavyweight contest. BKFC cruiserweight and light heavyweight champion Lorenzo Hunt tries to earn his third BKFC belt when he faces BKFC heavyweight champion Mick Terrill in the co-main event. UFC heavyweight veterans Ben Rothwell and Todd Duffee also clash on the main card. Check out the BKFC KnuckleMania 4 fight card below. Main card (Triller PPV at 10 p.m. ET) Mike Perry vs. Thiago Alves Mick Terrill vs. Lorenzo Hunt Ben Rothwell vs. Todd Duffee Alfredo Angulo vs. Jeremiah Riggs Evgeny Kurdanov vs. Julian Lane Crystal Pittman vs. Sydney Smith David Diaz vs. Shane Jordan Andrew Angelcor vs. Ruben Warr Daniel Alvarez vs. Victor Rosas Prelims (MMA Fighting at 9 p.m. ET) Vinny Familari vs. Fernando Gonzalez Tommy Aaron vs. Richard Brooks Keith Richardson vs. Cody Vidal

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Joaquin Buckley is getting his wish. Sort of. UFC CEO Dana White announced Wednesday that Buckley is set to face Nursulton Ruziboev on May 11 in the welterweight co-main event of UFC St. Louis. A streaking welterweight contender and native of St. Louis, Buckley repeatedly asked to compete in the main event of his hometown card following his March 30 win over Vicente Luque, even doing so at UFC 300’s pre-fight press conference. Buckley (18-6) has won three consecutive UFC bouts since moving from middleweight back down to the 170-pound division, sandwiching knockouts of Luque and Andre Fialho between a unanimous decision over Alex Morono. He is currently MMA Fighting’s No. 13 ranked welterweight in the world. Buckley now makes the quick turnaround against Ruziboev (34-8-2), who transitions down from the middleweight division to accept the challenge. Ruziboev is 2-0 in the UFC with back-to-back first-round knockouts of Brunno Ferreira and Sedriques Dumas, both of which were contested at 185 pounds. Ruziboev’s most recent win over Dumas came on the same March 30 card, meaning both co-headliners now meet at UFC St. Louis with a six-week turnaround. UFC St. Louis takes place at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The event is headlined by a heavyweight matchup pitting Derrick Lewis against Rodrigo Nascimento.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is set to go to court with his attempted murder trial on Sept. 9. in Santa Clara County, Calif. The trial date was set on Wednesday by Judge Elizabeth Peterson, with Velasquez appearing in court alongside his attorney Renee Hessling. At the latest hearing, Hessling requested another continuance, but prosecutor Aaron French, who represented the District Attorney’s office, argued against another delay, complaining that the trial setting had already been pushed back several times. A continuance for the trial setting was granted back in February due to subpoena requests that the defense was still waiting to receive, including records from the UFC. Hessling stated on Wednesday that the subpoena evidence acquired was still incomplete and she needed more time before a trial date was set. In the end, Peterson sided with the prosecution to set a trial date for September. Velasquez faces a litany of charges in connection with his arrest back in March 2022. Velasquez, 41, was arrested after allegedly going on a high-speed chase pursuing a car containing Harry Goularte, a man accused of sexually abusing his son at a daycare owned by Goularte’s mother. Velasquez allegedly fired several rounds from a handgun into the vehicle, with Goularte’s stepfather, Paul Bender, being hit by a bullet but sustaining non-life threatening injuries as a result. Goularte, who was released on bail against the recommendation from the prosecution prior to the alleged car chase, faces separate charges, including one count of lewd acts with a child, but his own trial date still hasn’t been set. The next major date in the case for Velasquez comes on June 26 for a trial readiness hearing, with motions required to be filed by Aug. 12 and completed by Aug. 26. Witness lists for the prosecution and defense must be filed no later than Sept. 4, with the trial slated to start on Sept. 9. During the previous hearing in February, French stated that he objected to further delays in setting a trial date but conversations were ongoing between the prosecution and the defense over a potential resolution that could include a plea deal. At this point, no plea deal was reached, so now a trial date has been set for September. Velasquez faces a multitude of charges including attempted murder, which carries a minimum 20-year sentence or up to life in prison if convicted. Velasquez plead not guilty to all charges.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images The rich got richer when it came to executive compensation once UFC and WWE merged to become TKO Group Holdings this past September. In a new financial disclosure filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ahead of an annual stockholders meeting in June, compensation packages for the top TKO executives were revealed for the fiscal year in 2023, including CEO Ari Emanuel earning nearly $65 million. The financial package included $911,538 in salary, which was prorated based on the merger date — Sept. 12 2023 — to the end of the fiscal year, along with a $24 million bonus and $40,000,094 in stock awards. As part of his overall bonus, Emanuel took home a whopping $20 million transaction bonus from UFC alone that “was not tied to achievement of any specified performance measure and, as such, is not included herein.” Mark Shapiro, the TKO president and chief operating officer, took home a package valued at more than $16 million, which included a $9 million bonus and more than $6 million in stock awards. Andrew Schleimer, the chief financial officer, earned more than $8.7 million, with a $5 million bonus and more than $3.1 million in stock awards. WWE president and TKO board member Nick Khan also took home more than $32 million in total compensation, which included a $15 million bonus and more than $12 million in stock awards. The deal to merge UFC and WWE together under the new label at TKO was valued at more than $21 billion. In 2023, UFC produced record revenue of $1.3 billion driven by media rights and increases in sponsorships and live events, with 20 sold-out shows and seven of those among the 20 highest grossing UFC events of all-time. Because TKO remains a publicly traded company, executive compensation packages like these are made available for stockholders and through required SEC filings. The primary TKO owner is Endeavor — the talent agency that also operates other major businesses like On Location and Professional Bull Riders — which owns a 51 percent stake in the company. Endeavor was recently taken private again after Silver Lake purchased the rest of the remaining stock available for the company in a deal valued at $13 billion. While Endeavor no longer has to provide financial disclosures as a private company, TKO is still required as a publicly traded entity. TKO appears poised for another huge year in 2024 after WWE inked a pair of massive broadcast deals, including a five-year, $10 billion contract to move its flagship Monday Night Raw program to Netflix starting in 2025. UFC also begins negotiations soon on a new TV rights deal, with the current contract with ESPN expiring after 2025.

Conor McGregor Conor McGregor makes his long awaited return against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and the card is quickly filling up. On Wednesday, the UFC formally confirmed seven total fights for the event so far. McGregor fights for the first time in nearly three years after suffering a gruesome broken leg against Dustin Poirier in 2021. It’s been a long road back for the Irish superstar, but he’ll get the chance to return to the win column facing Chandler, who coached against him on the most recent season of The Ultimate Fighter before finally booking this matchup in June. The co-main event features former UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill making a quick turnaround from his loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 300, as he faces Khalil Rountree Jr. in a pivotal matchup at 205 pounds. Roundtree enters the bout off five wins in a row — four by knockout — including his finish of one-time title challenger Anthony Smith. A win over a former champion like Hill in June could put Rountree in title contention. Also official for the card, Mayra Bueno Silva takes on Macy Chiasson in a bantamweight bout at UFC 303. Beuno Silva looks to bounce back from a loss to Raquel Pennington in January while Chiasson seeks her second win in a row after submitting Pannie Kianzad in March. Always exciting featherweights Cub Swanson and Andre Fili also clash on the upcoming card. With 11 post-fight bonuses between them, Swanson and Fili look to entertain the Las Vegas crowd when they meet in June. Joe Pyfer returns to action for a middleweight showdown against Canadian brawler Marc-Andre Barriault, while strawweight veteran Michelle Waterson-Gomez faces submission specialist Gillian Robertson. Undefeated Road to the UFC prospect Rei Tsuruya seeks his second straight octagon finish when he faces Carlos Hernandez in a flyweight matchup. Tickets for the event go on sale Friday, April 26, with more bouts expected to be announced in the coming weeks.