Coach refutes rumors of Mike Tyson vs. Wanderlei Silva BKFC fight

Not long after boxing legend Mike Tyson announced his plans to return to the ring at 53 years of age, he received a lucrative offer from upstart bare-knuckle promotion BKFC—potentially for a fight with MMA legend Wanderlei Silva.

“I think a Wanderlei Silva, someone of that nature,” BKFC boss David Feldman told MMA Fighting when discussing potential opponents 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.”

Reports have suggested that Tyson has been offered in excess of $20M for this potential BKFC fight, while Silva told Sherdog he was offered $10M for the fight.

“They offered me $10 million plus pay-per-view percentage and I accepted immediately. I hope Feldman can make it happen,” Silva said.

Yet according to Silva’s coach Rafael Cordeiro, who has also worked with Tyson recently, the chances of a BKFC fight between the two combat sports legends are slim.

“I didn’t get any calls from Wand or Tyson, but as far as I know that fight won’t happen,” Cordeiro told Sherdog. “Tyson is training to make a boxing fight — with gloves. It is hard to comment about rumors.”

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.

Do you think we’ll see Mike Tyson and Wanderlei Silva fight in BKFC?