BKFC President: ‘I probably shouldn’t have’ threatened fighter pay at BKFC 5

BKFC President David Feldman found himself under the spotlight of controversy at BKFC 5 for some in-ring comments. Monday, he reflected on those comments.

Following a bout between Rusty Crowder and Reggie Barnett that didn’t quite live up to Feldman’s expectations, he entered the ring at its conclusion and threatened to give half of Crowder, the winner’s purse to his opponent. That was obviously met with plenty of backlash from the community and led to a statement being released by Feldman clearing things up the day after the event.

On Monday at a BKFC 6 news conference (via MMA Junkie), Feldman spoke once again about his comments from that night.

“Everybody got paid what they were supposed to get,” he stated. “And most of the fighters on the card got paid a lot more than they were supposed to get.

“I think we got here to where we are today because of statements like that. Because these fighters know that they need to get… they’re getting paid very well, first of all. These fighters are getting paid very well. Most of them are getting paid more than they can make anywhere else in the world right now.

“So with that being said, I demand action,” Feldman continued. “I demand action, not for me, I demand action for the fans. The fans are paying for this. The fans deserve the action they’re supposed to get. I probably shouldn’t have made that statement in the ring, as I made it. I probably should have handled it – the way I should have handled it [was] in the dressing room, behind the scenes.”

PhotoCred: MMA Mania

BKFC 6 is set to go down on June 22 in Tampa, Florida and will be headlined by a grudge match pitting former UFC featherweight, Artem Lobov against former boxing champion, Paulie Malignaggi.

Unfortunately for Feldman and company, that event is having to leap some hurdles of its own now as the Florida State Athletic Commission isn’t allowing the promotion to hold their event with the fighters fighting bare-knuckle.

on 5/20/2019