John Dodson laments long layoff after signing exclusive BKFC deal: ‘When the hell am I going to get the chance to fight?’

John Dodson just wants to fight but he can’t seem to get BKFC to give him a date much less an opponent.

Following a blistering 4-0-1 start to his bare-knuckle career, which included claiming the BKFC flyweight title, the UFC veteran was anxious to receive some news about defending his belt when he was invited to attend the promotion’s champion summit back in July 2025. It was at that time BKFC signed Dodson to a new exclusive deal after he had previously split time between bare-knuckle fights and competing in RIZIN in Japan.

But since putting pen to paper, Dodson claims he’s only heard excuses why he hasn’t been booked and he’s still no closer to a return to action with his most recent BKFC fight happening all the way back in March 2024.

“Bare-knuckle is the one who signed me [to] a new contract saying that I can’t fight for any other promotions,” Dodson told MMA Fighting. “So I’ve been waiting for them to go ahead and give me my next victim. They brought me out to the champion’s summit when they were out in Florida and all of the champions were out there. Conor McGregor made a spectacle. Everybody was sitting there talking about the big man, giant tournament that they’re going to have for the world’s baddest man and the world’s baddest bitch tournament coming out soon shortly afterwards.

“They forced me to watch the inaugural flyweight interim world champion fight happen, which pissed me off, because I asked to fight both those guys and they told me neither one of them were ready for me. I got a winner and then OK cool, I’m going to fight one of these dudes, I thought I was going to fight the winner. Andrew [Strode] vacated the title and then Gee [Perez] has been fighting left and right so I’m like yo, when the hell am I going to get the chance to fight?”

It was after his most recent appearance in RIZIN that Dodson says BKFC asked him to either sign an exclusive deal or relinquish his belt. He was more than happy to commit to bare-knuckle fighting, but he never imagined the result would be even more time off.

“Right after my last RIZIN fight, I went out there and we signed a new deal and they sat there and said I can’t have any other outside fights,” Dodson said. “I can’t go back to mixed martial arts. I can’t do anything else because if I do, I vacate the title. That’s why they sat there and made an interim champion, I guess. I was like, no, I was waiting for you guys to give me a call, waiting for me to go ahead and step up.

“I don’t care where I fight. I just want to get back into the squared circle and knock somebody out so we can get moving forward in this next process after this.”