MIAMI — Boxing media’s older guard sometimes try to gate-keep the sport — even as it evolves.
They don’t want you following YouTube media. They don’t want to shine a light on the boxing culture that permeates non-traditional elements of the sport, either, whether that’s influencer boxing, bare-knuckle fighting, or, in the case of Mike Perry and Malki Kawa’s upstart fight firm, dirty boxing.
I’m not one of those people. I never have been.
When I was at Business Insider, I gave mainstream attention to the rising Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship when it only had five events behind it. Now, it’s one of the most interesting spectacles in the business.
Dirty Boxing Championship is kinda similar.
It’s weird, it’s wild, and if you want your grandfather’s boxing, this ain’t for you. But we’re not in the 1960s no more.
In 2026, there’s an increasing cross-pollination whether that’s internet sensation Jake Paul getting his jaw broken when fighting Anthony Joshua, a bona fide killer. Or one of the UFC’s most murderous punchers, Francis Ngannou, dropping Tyson Fury in a shock crossover a few years back.
Dirty Boxing Championship, for now, has a greater following from MMA fans than boxing — likely because of Perry’s fan-friendly fights in the UFC, and Kawa’s long-reigning representation of all-time great fighter Jon Jones.
That could change because of the way it wants to position itself.
Weeks before I turned up at the James L. Knight Center in Downtown Miami for DBX 6 — the sixth event in Dirty Boxing Championship’s short history — I spoke to Perry, Kawa, main event fighters Michael Garcia and Rob Perez, and freak-of-nature Adam Progress.
Here’s what they said about the possible growth trajectory of its business, should it capture the boxing market’s fervent fans.
“We see MMA fighters going to influencer boxing. Streamers doing influencer boxing. I mixed in with bare knuckle, and, you know, we created something truly special with the Dirty Boxing Championship’s ruleset,” founder Mike Perry, who had 14 wins (11 KOs) against 8 losses in MMA, told Boxing Social ahead of the event.
Perry told us he’ll compete in Dirty Boxing Championship himself one day, hoping to use that rule-set in his favor. For him, the route toward relevancy for any embryonic combat sports promotion in 2026 is about cultivating cross-pollination interest. “We give the perfect middle ground where MMA fighters and boxers can meet and throw down,” he finished.
Malki Kawa, an MMA manager and Dirty Boxing co-founder, told me: “This sport has the potential to grow and catch on, even in boxing.”
For Kawa, there are elements of traditional boxing that are boring. MMA is no different. “Here,” he said, “you’re guaranteed to have action.
“I could take two of your best boxers and put them in our rule set. If they never threw an elbow, it’s still better than regular boxing. That’s just the reality. There’s no hugging allowed, right? The ring is smaller. The gloves are smaller.”
He said: “It’s all made for the fan — the guy who spends his money to come in and watch action. That’s what this is for. So, if you like action, then Dirty Boxing is your thing.”
There Are Actual Rules
For one, it’s all about fighting dirty. “Dirty Boxing redefines the boundaries between traditional boxing and MMA,” its website said.
- Gloves are 4-ounce to ensure “fast-paced, explosive action while reducing hand injuries”
- Ground-and-pound is permitted to “reward aggressive, strategic offense”
- The ring I saw in Miami was small to “minimize stalling”
- Elbows are allowed to “create more finishing opportunities”
- Rounds are 3 minutes “to maintain a fast-paced, high-intensity fight style”
- And, finally, if you hold, expect “warnings or point reductions”
- If there’s a split draw after 3 rounds, a round of “sudden death” determines an eventual winner
Boxing Social also spoke to three of the fighters before the show.
There was no love lost between Perez and Garcia, who shared top billing in a heavyweight main event, but they paused their relentless trashing of one another to explain their interest in Dirty Boxing over the rulesets you see in mixed martial arts leagues, or traditional boxing.
It was critical Perez learned “how to throw elbows,” he said.
“I’ve been hit with baseball bats. I’ve been hit with pipes. I’ve been hit with s*** a lot harder than elbows. So, me being afraid of elbows is non-existent. I like to throw elbows just to spice it up and be more versatile in the ring.”
Michael Garcia, meanwhile, regards his Muay Thai background as pivotal to any effective transition to the Dirty Boxing ruleset. “You need to know how to move around in the ring as a boxer with your boxing,” he said, but setting up your elbow strikes, particularly from Muay Thai stances, are as instrumental, he said.
Dirty Boxing Championship 6
If you work at, or attend, a fight event, it won’t be long before you come across carnage — either in the ring, or behind the scenes.
Before a punch had even been thrown, hours before the event had even started, a crew member tried a back-flip in the ring during rehearsals, seemed to land on his neck, and had to be taken to hospital.
He’ll be fine.
He managed to get to his feet, and walked off on his own accord, complaining about his shoulder.
A lot of male stupidity is because someone, especially in Miami, wants to impress a woman. The woman watching the scene had her own boyfriend, I’m told, who has hundreds of thousands of social media followers. So, for the injured party’s sake, hopefully it wasn’t broadcast on Twitch.
Perhaps for the benefit of the savages, it did find its way to social media.
Regardless, it set the tone for the night. And that tone was loud, in-your-face, and full of live streamers and content creators, including Andrew and Tristan Tate.
Perry even had crates of an event partner’s cannabis cocktail brand, Tempter’s, but the venue, I was told, was adamant it couldn’t be cracked in-house.
Shame, I thought this was America.
Ringside Insights From DBX6
The fighter I was most looking forward to seeing was Adam Progress, a Hamburg-born fighter who, at 6-foot-8, at 185 pounds, cuts a near-Sebastian Fundora-esque figure in combat sports.
Imagine being whacked by one of his limbs when you think you’re out of range, but just happen to still be inside his.
Inspired by the UFC, and especially Jon Jones, Progress drilled MMA training, fought in the sport, trained in Thailand, and not necessarily to his immediate physical advantages. “Just because you’re tall, you don’t necessarily need to fight at a long reach or distance,” he told me ahead of his fight against Blake Lacaze on Saturday. “It has advantages because you’re not so easy to hit, but also it has disadvantages; you have more place to target if you fight close range.
“But, of course, the art of boxing is hit and don’t get hit, and you’re better with it when you fight in your range.”
Progress told me Lacaze “doesn’t know what’s waiting for him” and expected a signature knockout victory.
He was the second of five fights on the main card but didn’t make his walk until 11.05 p.m. local time.
Their fight didn’t disappoint. From the start, Lacaze closed the distance and landed a brutal straight to knock Progress’s head back, before he responded with elbows now inside. If Progress was expecting an easy finish, Lacaze wasn’t going to give it to him until a head-butt left him wincing, and needing full use of a timeout to recover. But Progress didn’t let him recover for long, whipping hooks, and short-range pops with his right, when hurling shots at him in his own corner.
After the bell, Lacaze’s corner treated him like they were still going to send him out for the second round, and a ring doctor assessed him to make sure he could see, while Progress rolled his eyes in a neutral corner.
Progress punished him even more in the second, with powerful punching to the head, and a soul-destroying shot to the body to finish Lacaze for good, who could only lay on the canvas beyond the ropes. “I expected a first-round knockout,” he said, post-fight. “But … I got a workout.”
In the main event, Michael Garcia silenced loudmouth Rob Perez, who had the even louder backing of a partisan, South Florida crowd, with a merciless first-round clubbing.
Earlier in the show, Taylor Burley walked with his bible to the ring but lost in the first-round to Miles Janicic, Gabriel Eurit cracked AJ Cunningham with one of the nastiest spinning back elbows I’ve heard live, and Zac Pauga beat Joseph White through the ropes until the referee waved it off.
Whether it’s for you depends on whether you tolerate newer fight firms trying new things.
It worked for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. And seems like it’s working for Real American Freestyle. Maybe it works for Craig Jones Invitational.
But what BKFC and Dirty Boxing have is a greater relevance to boxing and its history. Whether it becomes a part of its future remains to be seen.
