Wanderlei Silva has reportedly been offered $10M for a potential bare-knuckle fight with Mike Tyson—an opportunity he says he accepted “right away.”
Tyson, a 53-year-old boxing legend, is plotting a comeback, and is being aggressively courted by upstart bare-knuckle organization BKFC. The promotion is reported to have offered Tyson more than $20M to compete sans gloves, and has named Silva as his potential dance partner (should the boxer accept the offer).
“I think a Wanderlei Silva, someone of that nature,” BKFC President David Feldman told MMA Fighting when discussing a potential opponent for Tyson. “No matter how old Silva gets, he’s dangerous, and I think that would be an intriguing matchup. Something like that, but I don’t actually have anything in mind right now.”
Speaking to Brazilian combat sports outlet TATAME.com, Silva claimed that he’s been offered $10M for this potential fight, plus a share of pay-per-view revenue.
In an unsurprising twist, Silva says there was no hesitation to accept this lucrative showdown with the combat sports icon.
Per Tatame Magazine, Wanderlei Silva accepts to face Mike Tyson in BKFC with no gloves. He will make 10 million dollars in that fight.
“They offered that fight to me and I accepted immediately.”
— Bruno Massami (Бруно Массами) (@BrMassami) May 25, 2020
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Wanderlei Silva has yet to make his debut with BKFC, but fought without gloves in the early days of his career, and is regarded as one of the most ferocious fighters in MMA history. He came up short in his last two MMA bouts, losing to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson by knockout and Chael Sonnen by decision.
Mike Tyson has not fought since 2005, when he was defeated by Kevin McBride in what was expected to be the final fight of his career.
Does a bare-knuckle fight between Mike Tyson and Wanderlei Silva interest you?