Jeremy Stephens scored one of the biggest wins of his career when he stopped former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez and ultimately broke his jaw at BKFC KnuckleMania V in January. That victory moved Stephens to 3-0 in bare-knuckle fighting and it appeared he had a bright future set with BKFC until, out of nowhere, he announced an unexpected return to the UFC.
With his former fight promotion holding a card in his home state of Iowa, Stephens took a chance and reached out to UFC executives to gauge their interest in bringing him back for that event. He ended up signing a rare one-fight deal and went on to lose a decision to Mason Jones.
Despite the result, Stephens has no regrets about pausing his bare-knuckle fighting career to go back to the UFC for a one-off appearance.
“I did that for the fans,” Stephens told MMA Fighting. “I did it for myself, the fact that I could just go back in and really see can I get back in the UFC? I heard a couple of people around my hometown and fans [saying] ‘you should get on that card.’ I already reached out to Dana [White], my wife was like you should reach out to Dana and go for it. I did that. To come back on seven weeks of training in MMA, to go in there and perform at my age against a tough f*cking Mason Jones. A hell of a competitor. He did his job. He went in there and had wrestling in his heart. I was going for blood, I was going for the opportunity. I tried to make something happen. At the end of the day, it was a great money grab, a great opportunity and who’s doing this?
“It was a real cool moment to sit down and be able to have talks with Dana, Hunter [Campbell], to go to my hometown and to hear that crowd, the Iowa crowd, it was amazing. It wasn’t the outcome that I expected. It was just a recalculated route and it was great. I made the most of my opportunity.”
Following his short-term return to the UFC, Stephens was once again a free agent, but he didn’t have long to explore his options because BKFC wanted to bring him back. Considering the fanfare Stephens received from his trio of wins in the promotion, he was already becoming one of the most popular fighters on the roster and BKFC had a major card to book with the promotion going to New Jersey for the first time on Oct. 4.
Stephens inked a new contract with BKFC and booked a fight against Mike Perry. The organization’s “King of Violence,” Perry has arguably been the face of bare-knuckle fighting since he signed there following his own stint with the UFC.
On paper, Stephens is taking a huge risk with this fight considering he spent the majority of his career competing between 145 and 155 pounds and Perry’s most recent fights have been at much heavier weights. Stephens understands the risk he’s taking facing a bigger, stronger opponent, but this is exactly the fight he wanted from the minute he walked out of the ring with the win over Alvarez in January.
In fact, Stephens gets similar vibes for this matchup against Perry, especially after BKFC put so much promotion behind Alvarez only to watch him lose in the end.
“They’re betting on the wrong horse again,” Stephens said. “It’s not only the bag. It’s for opportunity and break this motherf*cker’s neck. Prove that I’m the better man. Delusions to reality. I’m the one who called this. I made this happen. This is out of my own doing. I put myself in a position to do so and here we are, right back home at bare-knuckle. I feel like they’re betting on the wrong horse.
“I get to go in there and shut [down] a bigger, scarier guy, that everybody’s afraid of, no one’s fighting, We’re too hot for TV shit. Orbitals [broken], jaws are f*cking cracking, I’m the better man that night. You should be betting on the Jeremy Stephens’ horse. I’m going to kill this dude.”
In one of the most viral moments of his career, Stephens famously proclaimed himself “the real hardest hitting 145’er” when he was competing at featherweight in the UFC, but now he’s going up several weight classes to face off with Perry.
Stephens can’t ignore the reality that size matters but he promises he’s ready to deliver another blistering finish against Perry in the same way he dispatched Alvarez.
“I have the power to knock him out but people are doubting my speed, my intellect, my good defense, my timing, my rhythm breaking, my head movement,” Stephens said. “I’m no slouch. I can lock up and tie up and f*cking throw motherf*ckers around, too.
“People think he’s just going to walk through me, be a bully. I land power shots and I’ve got a lot of sharp skill. I’ve got good angles, like I said, footwork, head movement, I see a lot of the shots coming. I feel like he’s George Foreman, I’m Muhammad Ali.”
If he’s able to pull off the upset and win again, Stephens has plans for his next callout but he’s not ready to reveal details just yet.
For now, Stephens wants to focus on beating Perry and once again putting himself in the position to reach even greater heights for his next fight with hopes BKFC continues to step up to the plate for him.
“I feel like I didn’t have the most opportunity until I really started taking it over here in bare-knuckle and getting into a sport that’s really, truly mine,” Stephens said. “It gets into my savage [nature], my mentality, what I bring to the table with these God given hands.
“I get to go out there and prove everybody wrong and prove what I already know. That I’m the better man.”
