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Mike Perry and Luke Rockhold | BKFC Consider Luke Rockhold truly one and done when it comes to his brief stint with BKFC. The former UFC middleweight champion made the surprising move to bare-knuckle fighting back in 2023 for a marquee matchup against Mike Perry. The fight didn’t go his way with Rockhold succumbing to punches in the second round after his teeth were broken and he suffered a gruesome cut across his lip. Immediately afterwards, Rockhold admitted bare-knuckle fighting wasn’t for him, and truth be told, he’s just not that impressed with the sport as a whole. “Bare-knuckle boxing is not a fight,” Rockhold told MMA Fighting. “I realized I [walked in there], I’m not losing my f*cking teeth without using everything I’ve worked for my whole life. People are f*cking dumb. That’s a dumbass sport. “Metal [ropes] that you just hit, and they throw you back into the brawl. There’s no way to gauge that distance, and it’s like who’s willing to lose their face first for f*cking nothing.” Rockhold wasn’t allowed to use many of his best weapons because he could only throw punches in the fight against Perry. Well known for having some incredibly nasty kicks and a strong ground game, Rockhold limited himself by going to BKFC and he’s actually doing that again with his upcoming boxing match against Darren Till at a Misfits Boxing event on Aug. 30. While both sports involve trading punches, Rockhold says nothing took away weapons from him more than bare-knuckle fighting and there’s a much different skill set involved with boxing. “It couldn’t be any worse than bare-knuckle boxing, I’ll tell you that,” Rockhold said about preparation for his boxing debut. “I’m pretty sure I hamstringed myself as hard as you can [in that fight]. This is different. I feel like my boxing has come a long way. No one has really seen it, for me to put the shoes on, get in the ring, get that dance, get that movement. F*ck, I can do it. I can do it with the best of the game, and I’m hurting people left and right at the gym. I don’t expect it to be any different. “I go out there and do what I’m doing everyday now, I keep training, stay healthy, I don’t think Darren should be able to exist more than a few rounds.” As much as he didn’t enjoy the whole BKFC experience, Rockhold isn’t opposed to taking the gloves off again for another fight, but he wants a different rule set this time. Rather than just blasting each other with punches, the 22-fight MMA veteran would love to throw one more wrinkle into a bare-knuckle fight. “One thing that I would do that I think is way more badass, and not so f*cking stupid, because you can’t gauge distance in bare-knuckle boxing,” Rockhold said. “I would do bare-knuckle kickboxing. I would f*cking rematch Mike Perry and put him to sleep. I don’t think he wants that. “There’s no way to gauge distance in bare-knuckle boxing, and they’ve got metal ropes, you’re just bouncing in and out. Bare-knuckle kickboxing, I think there would actually be some technique to it, and I think that would be badass. That would be a real, real fight. That would be fun. I’d f*ck somebody up in that.” Rockhold has already checked off a lot of boxes when it comes to his combat sports career after competing in MMA, bare-knuckle fighting, Karate Combat, grappling matches and now making his professional boxing debut in August. He’s excited to add one more sport to his résumé with hopes that boxing might become his primary focus after facing Till. “I like it,” Rockhold said about competing in every combat sport. “People have got to stay challenged. I really believe in it. People f*cking cut off. People are soft. It’s a copy culture. Everyone’s just in technology and soft bullshit. I like to challenge myself.” As far as that rematch with Perry goes, Rockhold is dead serious when it comes to fighting him again, but only if it’s bare-knuckle kickboxing this time. “It would be f*cking badass,” Rockhold said about fighting Perry again. “C’mon boy.”

Arman Tsarukyan | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC Arman Tsarukyan wants to provide some clarity to the lightweight title picture. Last month, Ilia Topuria won the vacant lightweight title by knocking out Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 317. Afterward, fans quickly wondered who might get the first crack at the new lightweight champion, with names like Tsarukyan, Justin Gaethje, and Paddy Pimblett all rising to the top of the list. For the moment, the frontrunner appears to be Pimblett, who had an in-cage faceoff with Topuria at UFC 317, but nothing is set in stone, and Tsarukyan has a plan to clear the logjam up a bit. “Of course I want Islam [Makhachev], but right now, it makes sense to fight with Gaethje, because he just beat the No. 11 or so [Rafael] Fiziev,” Tsarukyan told Chuck Liddell on his Out Cold show. “He doesn’t deserve title fight. That’s 100 percent, because he just lost [to Max] Holloway. Beat, on short notice, Fiziev. Fiziev knew about the fight five days, and he won, barely, a decision. Now he’s talking about title fight. It’s not fair. I think he’s got to beat me to deserve to fight for the title.” Gaethje appeared to be in line to challenge then-champion Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title last year, but instead stepped up to defend his ‘BMF’ belt against Max Holloway at UFC 300, losing by vicious knockout. He rebounded with a unanimous decision win over Rafael Fiziev at UFC 313. Since then, Gaethje has made his case for the title shot he forewent, saying he would consider retirement if he doesn’t get it, but it’s unclear where the UFC stands right now. Similarly, Tsarukyan had a clear path to the lightweight title earlier this year when he was scheduled to face Makhachev in the main event of UFC 311. Unfortunately, Tsarukyan withdrew from the bout the day before the fight, putting him in the dog house with the UFC. Tsarukyan did weigh-in as the backup fighter for UFC 317, but UFC CEO Dana White did not say if the No. 1 contender would actually be fighting for the belt next. But Tsarukyan says if it’s not for the belt, it has to be a fight that makes sense for him. “They offered me a fight. I said no because I want to fight ranked fighter from top 5,” Tsarukyan said. “I’m in the position, I’m not fighting for the money right now. I just want to be a champion. Now my goal is to be a champion, that’s why I’m not taking a fight I will just beat [someone]. I know I can beat everybody. Right now, I want to pick a good fight for me and get back to the title fight.” TOP STORIES Testing. Conor McGregor claims he’s back in UFC drug-testing pool: ‘I am ecstatic.’ Next Gen. Dricus du Plessis praises Tom Aspinall as ‘next generation of heavyweight.’ Trial. Jon Jones scheduled for 2 bench trials related to allegedly leaving the scene of an accident. Ownership. Mike Perry dismisses possible fight with Conor McGregor: ‘You’re still owned by the UFC.’ Influencers. Vitor Belfort goes off on content creators in boxing: ‘Jake Paul is not a real fighter.’ Return. ‘It’s always tempting’: Michelle Waterson-Gomez reflects on retirement, difficulties fighters face considering comeback. VIDEO STEW Vitor Belfort isn’t having it with content creator fighters. UFC Vegas 108 Media Day. Israel Adesanya with some Nigerian food. Daniel Cormier trash talking. SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE Sir, you lost. He lost almost every round except the 4th. So if his training strategy was to lose almost every round and then try a Hail Mary in the last 30 secs then buddy you need a new game plan. And yes that’s luck. You had a 30 sec streak of luck. I had 20 mins of dominance. https://t.co/cXewgNmTZR— Johnny Eblen (@JohnnyEblen) July 30, 2025 Life after. View this post on Instagram A post shared by NFL on ESPN (@espnnfl) Makes sense. Drod looked good in his last fight. We would put on a banger for sure. I'd stop him violently but it would be fun.— Randy Brown (@TouchNgo_) July 30, 2025 Follow the real RDR Twitter account! The real one pic.twitter.com/T72OEPf5Xs— Reinier de Ridder (@ReinierdeRidder) July 30, 2025 There's no time to waste, I want a title shot by the end of 2025. @stylebender, let’s do this at MSG or Abu Dhabi this November. You ready for the challenge? vs pic.twitter.com/uA6cCySmU9— Reinier de Ridder (@DeridderMMA) July 30, 2025 Happy birthday! 25 pic.twitter.com/RExXnpZzaA— Muhammad Mokaev (@muhammadmokaev) July 29, 2025 FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS Karine Silva (18-5) vs. Dione Barbosa (8-3); UFC 319, Aug. 16 Lone’er Kavanagh (9-0) vs. Charles Johnson (17-7); UFC Shanghai, Aug. 23 FINAL THOUGHTS Honestly, it should be Gaethje vs. Paddy and Arman vs. Ilia, but that’s not happening, so I guess we could do worse than Gaethje vs. Arman. Except that might end up being the final fight of Gaethje’s career, and that would be a bummer of a way to end things. EXIT POLL If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Facebook.

Think you can figure out which UFC fighter we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out. We’re back for another day of the SB Nation UFC in-5 daily trivia game. Game instructions are at the bottom if you’re new to the game! Feel free to share your results in the comments and feedback in this Google Form. Today’s UFC in-5 game If you can’t see the game due to Apple News or another service, click this game article. Previous games Wednesday, July 30, 2025Tuesday, July 29, 2025Monday, July 28, 2025 Play more SB Nation in-5 trivia games NFL in-5MLB in-5 The goal of the game is to guess the correct random UFC fighter player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED FIGHTERS. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. It will be a mix of well-known players and some “that guys” that we haven’t thought of in some time. The game will appear in slot #3 of the MMA Fighting layout each morning, with occasional movement later in the day. After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC MMA Fighting has UFC BJJ 2 results for the Tackett vs. Canuto fight card and more from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nev., on Thursday night. In the main event, UFC BJJ welterweight champion Andrew Tackett aims to defend his title against Renato Canuto. Tackett has won four of his past five grappling matches, while Canuto has reeled off three straight victories. Mason Fowler and David Garmo will battle for the inaugural UFC BJJ lightweight title in the co-main event. Fowler has won six of his last seven grappling matches, while Garmo has lost three of his past five matches. Check out the UFC BJJ 2 results below. Main card (MMA Fighting at 8 p.m. ET) Andrew Tackett vs. Renato Canuto Mason Fowler vs. David Garmo William Tackett vs. Kyle Chambers Raquel Canuto vs. Morgan Black Kennedy Maciel vs. Ademir Barreto Aurelie Le Vern vs. Maggie Grindatti-Lira Tammi Musumeci vs. Leilani Bernales Everton Teixeira vs. Jalen Fonacier

Tatsuro Taira and Brandon Royval | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC The UFC is heading back to the APEX. This Saturday, UFC Vegas 108 goes down in the world’s mightiest APEX and with it comes a matchup of elite flyweight prospects. In the main event, Tatsuro Taira takes on Road to UFC champion Hyun Sung Park in a short-notice replacement fight that figures to be a darn good scrap, and No Bets Barred is here to break it all down. This week, host Jed Meshew flies solo to break down UFC Vegas 108, giving his thoughts on the main event matchup, Park’s chances as he steps in for Amir Albazi on short notice, Mateusz Rebecki vs. Chris Duncan in the co-main event, Rinya Nakamura’s shot at rebounding from his first career defeat, the all-action featherweight scrap between Danny Silva and Kevin Vallejos, the sad end and new beginning of The Climb, and more. Tune in for episode 133 of No Bets Barred. New episodes of the No Bets Barred podcast drop every Wednesday and are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts. The latest episode can be heard below.