Mike Richman was doing bare-knuckle before it was cool.
Pleasantly surprised at the progress from doubted and ridiculed promotional endeavor to MMA and boxing’s rising combat sports cousin, Richman is willing and able to reap the benefits of partaking before the masses latched on.
“When I saw bare-knuckle as a sport, it just really intrigued me,” Richman told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “It really tailors and caters to my style of fighting, when I was in MMA. I was very much a guy that liked to be in the mid-range or outside-mid-range, kind of working that pocket – that danger area. I like to strike and I like to throw with precision and accuracy, but more importantly power, looking for the finish. That’s everything that bare-knuckle is. I was a big fan of the sport when I first saw it. But I was itching to be like, ‘I want to f*cking do that. I will be f*cking good at that.’ So yeah, I’m enjoying the ride.”
Richman, now 36, carved his path and notoriety in the combat sports world during his stint as a contender for Bellator. He was knocked off his platform, however, after a failed drug test landed him a two-year suspension. Two LFA losses later, Richman decided to he needed a change. That’s when he stumbled across boxing without gloves – a sport that at the time was not legal in the United States.
After one fight in the United Kingdom, Richman took advantage of bare-knuckle boxing’s legalization in the United States. He fought on Valor Bare Knuckle 1 in Wyoming in September 2019. Two-and-a-half years later, he’s approaching his third poster-featured fight for BKFC, the premiere bare-knuckle organization.
Pioneer-ship isn’t something Richman set out for, but he’s welcoming it with open arms. He has the ability to lay the foundation for future generations, while also riding the wave of BKFC being a viable career option.
“I want to make a good run, fight at a couple of different weight classes, try to win some titles, and leave this sport as one of the best to do it,” Richman said. “Five or 10 years down the road, I want another aspiring, young bare-knuckle fighter to be like, ‘Yeah, that Mike ‘The Marine’ Richman, that dude was a f*cking savage. That dude was one of the best. I want to fight like him. I like his style.’ You want to be remembered for sure. When you leave anything, you want to leave your mark on it. You want to leave room to be remembered.”
Friday, Richman headlines BKFC 23 at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan. against David Rickels, a fighter who graced the Bellator roster largely over the same duration as he.
“I’m very excited to get back in there, especially with Rickels,” Richman said. “It kind of brings a little nostalgia to it. We’re both kind of Bellator OGs. We go back to the Bjorn Rebney days. Then, we both transitioned over to the Scott Coker days. We’ve always been in passing and we’ve always been acquaintances and kind of chatted and shot the sh*t with each other, always been friendly with each other.
“I think we both kind of knew at one point or another when we were with BKFC that our paths would eventually cross. Now, it’s leading to this Friday. It means something. Instead of throwing us right into the mix early on, it means something now. One of us, so they say, will fight for the title. It’s cool to do because it’s going to be a super exciting fight.”
