Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) is expected to reach 200,000 pay-per-view (PPV) buys, according to promoter David Feldman, for the much-ballyhooed “Malignaggi vs. Lobov” combat sports event last month in Tampa, Florida (highlights here).

That would put BKFC 6 at roughly double what Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) managed to generate with UFC 236 last April. And if you’re blaming that on ESPN+, then flashback to roughly one year before, when UFC 225 did just 150,000 PPV buys in June of 2018.

“We got our digital numbers right away,” Feldman told MMA Junkie. “In April, we did a certain amount, and in June, we did six times that digitally. It’s given us a gauge that we’re going to end up at the 200,000 line.”

And around $8 million in the black.

BKFC returns on Aug. 10 in Biloxi, Mississippi, featuring a gloveless showdown between UFC imports Jason Knight and Leonard Garcia. While the promotion is unlikely to replicate its most recent numbers, the fact that bare knuckle boxing can generate that sort of attention will undoubtedly result in more fans, fighters, and sponsors taking interest.