Triller buys majority stake in BKFC
Earlier today, news broke that Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship was on the market and Triller was potentially the one to foot the bill. MyMMANews’ own Blaine Henry broke the story today and was later confirmed by Ariel Helwani and BKFC president Dave Feldman on The MMA Hour.
BREAKING: BKFC is rumored to be nearing a deal to be sold to Triller. #bkfc
— Blaine Henry (@BlaineHenryTFL) February 23, 2022
BKFC then sent out a press release confirming the news once again. Triller acquired pay-per-view service FITE.tv last year and made waves in the combat sports community there. This latest acquisition is just the latest in a series of moves that see Triller positioning themselves as a major player in the combat sports world, even if their foothold is not yet fully defined.
“We see this as both a natural evolution and also a revolution for combat sports,” said Fight Club’s Ryan Kavanaugh. “We have long admired the tenacity, ferocity, and passion of both the fighters and the team of BKFC. This is the most obvious win-win in the history of combat sports,” added Kavanaugh. “Our goal has been to continue to bring the younger generation and combat sports viewership together, something that has been diverging up until our involvement, and BKFC does just that. We admire that they fought an uphill battle to create a newly regulated combat sport, and now to have it be the fastest growing combat sport is a real testament to BKFC founder and CEO, Dave Feldman’s vision and his and his team’s ability to execute.”
Dave Feldman also chimed in saying, “We feel that by combining with Triller and bringing BKFC into the Trillerverz we can supercharge the growth even further than we have, and quickly bring BKFC further into the mainstream. Triller’s access to talent and marketing prowess combined with our innovative production value and massive loyal following is truly a case where 1+1 = 11. All I can say is that with this partnership BKFC has cemented itself as a major player in the combat sports world,” Feldman added. “All the raw authenticity that our fans have come to expect will remain the same and all programming will remain on the BKTV app.”
Triller, BKFC, and FITE.tv
FITE.tv has been a major staple for fans of combat sports for years. The platform hosted events from many of combat sports biggest promotions including Glory Kickboxing, RIZIN and BKFC for some time. With the metoric rise of Triller, FITE quickly saw themselves acquired by Triller.
Triller made a magnificent splash landing the return of Mike Tyson as he took on Roy Jones Jr. in November of 2020. Shortly after, Jake Paul and Ben Askren was the second event for Triller. Since then, Triller has put on fights between Vitor Belfort vs. Evander Holyfield and Kubrat Pulev vs. Frank Mir.
BKFC has been on a major rise. Since coming around in 2018, the promotion has put on event after event and brought in stars like Mike Perry, Paulie Malignaggi, Artem Lobov, Paige VanZant, Chad Mendes, and more.
Stay posted to My MMA News for all the latest Triller and BKFC news. Thanks for reading!
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In addition to covering BKFC for My MMA News, Blaine Henry, the author, also analyzes fights from all combat sports across the globe.
Blaine Henry can be found on Twitter, on his podcast, and Patreon.
