Parker Porter feels reinvigorated, reignited and more motivated than ever. All it took was removing the gloves.
At BKFC on DAZN 4 on Saturday, Porter (1-0) stepped into his first bareknuckle boxing match – and swiftly finished fellow UFC alum Chase Gormley (1-1) with punches in 44 seconds. Porter knocked Gormley down twice in that stretch.
The bout took place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., one hour from where Porter lives.
“I wasn’t sure about it at first, but when it came across the table, I was like, ‘Let’s go.’ I’m definitely not done fighting,” Porter told MMA Junkie on Sunday. “This might be the new niche for me. The staff and the promotion were awesome. They were super organized and took care of everything real well. They were super professional and easy to work with. I like this style of fighting a lot. I think I could mesh into it very, very well.”
Porter is 39 and has fought professionally since 2007. It’s been a long and winding road that included eight UFC appearances over the course of which he went 4-4. After three losses in a four-outing stretch, Porter was not renewed by the promotion after a defeat to Justin Tafa in August 2023.
When he entered the free agent pool, Porter admits he wasn’t sure what avenues would even be out there. He’s glad the BKFC door opened and now he wants more.
“My mindset coming out (of the UFC) was just like despair, almost,” Porter said. “The UFC is considered the gold standard for MMA. It’s the biggest, baddest promotion out there with the best fighters in the world when it comes to MMA. To have that taken away after working so many years and working so hard to get there, it was daunting to have it taken away like that in the way that it got taken away. But having this opportunity come across my table has totally rejuvenated my excitement for training. … The universe just put everything in place for me and I’m ready to grab it.”
Porter still has two fights left on his promotional agreement. It’s up to BKFC as to what they want to do next. Porter hopes to build up a little more experience and ring time, and then eventually fight the creme of the crop at heavyweight.
“I wouldn’t mind getting a little bit more experience before that, but that’s definitely the target,” Porter said. “If I’m going to stick around with this, I’m not going to just do it to hover it around in the midsection or just break the top 10. I want to definitely make a title run.”
