Days after Conor McGregor made entry into the BKFC ring to square off with Mike Perry, UFC president Dana White gives his thoughts.
It’s not often one promotion’s star will enter the fighting surface of another promotion, title in hand, and square off with another promotion’s poster boy.
Even though that’s what [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] did with [autotag]Mike Perry[/autotag] at Saturday’s BKFC 41, UFC president Dana White said the unusual decision by his fighter did not bother him.
“I think Conor went out and was having fun and got caught up in the moment,” White recently told Barstool Sports. “The dude called him into the ring. You know, he did it. I also saw him pounding a bottle of Proper (No.) Twelve. I’m sure that had something to do with it, too.
“Listen, man. At the end of the day, Conor has done a lot here. He’s made a lot of money. The guy is out having fun and it’s all good. … Not at all (was I bothered). Not even a little bit.”
McGregor, 34, was front row for the bareknuckle action but does not have a fight date set yet for his upcoming matchup against Michael Chandler. After a July 2021 leg break in a fight vs. Dustin Poirier, McGregor removed himself from the USADA testing pool and has yet to return.
White isn’t quite sure when arguably the most anticipated fight on the promotion’s docket will happen.
“Obviously the show has got to air,” White said. “We’re going to find out. I actually saw a picture of Conor today where he actually looked leaner, like he’s starting to cut the weight down. We’ll see. This guy is going through a ton of sh*t with his body after breaking his shin bone. Believe me, as soon as we can get it done, we’ll get it done.”
Now that he’s seen him up close and personal, Mike Perry seems to be all in on chasing a fight with Conor McGregor.
Now that he’s seen him up close and personal, [autotag]Mike Perry[/autotag] seems to be all in on chasing a fight with [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag].
“Conor, ‘Notorious’ Conor McGregor vs. ‘Platinum’ Mike Perry is the only fight to make,” Perry told McGregor directly during a TMZ interview posted Tuesday. “It is the No. 1 fight in the world. All the fans want it, we’ll throw hands, southpaw vs. orthodox, big power punchers. I’m the better boxer. And that’s no disrespect on you, mate. You’ve had an amazing career. You said you’re never retiring. I’m getting a little older myself. I think we’ve come a long way.
“I’ve definitely come a long way. You’ve been at the top. It’s my turn to take over. So you could just hand me the keys, or you could let me fight you for them.”
Perry’s callout comes just a few days after McGregor’s surprise appearance this past Saturday at BKFC 41 near Denver. In the night’s main event, Perry, a former UFC welterweight contender, pushed his bare-knuckle boxing record to 3-0 with a TKO win over former UFC middleweight champ Luke Rockhold, who made his debut.
Afterward, McGregor stepped inside the ring with a BKFC championship belt over his shoulder. The former UFC champ-champ shared some words with Perry before the two men engaged in a faceoff.
McGregor, who recently wrapped up filming as a coach on “The Ultimate Fighter 31,” is expected to return to the cage later this year against opposing coach Michael Chandler, although no date has been booked for the fight. McGregor, who’s fought before as a featherweight, has bulked up in size since recovering from his broken leg suffered in July 2021.
McGregor raved about BKFC while in the ring with Perry, who would like his chances if he got a shot at McGregor in the squared circle.
“I think I looked a little bit bigger, a little bit tougher,” Perry said. “I had a pump going on from the fight I just had. He had his suit on. It was covering up some of his muscles, but we looked very similar in size. I know he’s long and rangy. He’s my height-ish, so he’s going to be faster and sharper than Luke was. Can he hit as hard? Can my platinum jaw line take that left hand? I believe it can. It’s the same thing that happened to Luke, man. It’s just a matter of time when I close that range on you, and I land those devastating shots.”
BKFC 41, which featured a surprise appearance from Conor McGregor, had the combat sports world buzzing.
The UFC was in action this past Saturday, but so, too, was Bare Knuckle FC – and it made by far the bigger splash.
BKFC 41 near Denver featured a main event of Mike Perry vs. former UFC and Strikeforce champion Luke Rockhold, plus a co-main event of former UFC and Bellator champ Eddie Alvarez vs. Chad Mendes. The card also featured Ben Rothwell, Bec Rawlings – and Conor McGregor was there as a fan, then faced off with Perry after he beat Rockhold. What is happening here?! Maybe this was the start of a BKFC takeover.
In all seriousness, what were the biggest takeaways from BKFC 41?
Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Danny Segura, Brian “Goze” Garcia and Dan Tom weighed in with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia. You can watch their discussion in the video above and check out this week’s full episode below.
Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique” live stream covering the biggest topics in combat sports, like BKFC 41, Nate Diaz and UFC 288.
Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts. This week’s panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Danny Segura and Dan Tom will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:
The UFC was in action this past Saturday, but so, too, was BKFC – and it made by far the bigger splash. BKFC 41 near Denver featured a main event of [autotag]Mike Perry[/autotag] vs. former UFC and Strikeforce champion [autotag]Luke Rockhold[/autotag], plus a co-main event of former UFC and Bellator champ [autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Chad Mendes[/autotag]. The card also featured Ben Rothwell, Bec Rawlings – and [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] was there as a fan, then faced off with Perry! What is happening here?! Was this the start of the BKFC takeover?
[autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag] has been in the news. He turned himself in to police in New Orleans, was booked and released and now awaits the next process after an arrest that stemmed from footage of him choking a man unconscious. Diaz’s side said the man was a fellow fighter who came at Diaz, and Diaz merely acted in self defense. What are our thoughts on the scuffle.
Not to be forgotten, UFC Fight Night 223 went down in Las Vegas. It wasn’t a crazy card on paper, but in the main event, [autotag]Song Yadong[/autotag] planted his flag as a bantamweight title contender with a dominant fifth-round finish of Ricky Simon. What’s Yadong’s position in the division, and at 25, what’s his timeline for when he might fight for a UFC title?
The UFC’s middleweight title picture seemed clear enough: Ex-champ [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] has been booked, and presumably the winner would be teed up for [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag]. But now Aeesanya, born in Africa, but living in New Zealand, has beef with Du Plessis, a South Africa native who still lives and trains there. Is Adsanya vs. Du Plessis the way to go now because of the heat it can pull from their new rivalry?
UFC 288 goes down Saturday in New Jersey, and while it won’t be in the running for the best numbered card of all time, it’s solid from top to bottom and the main event is loaded with intrigue. Bantamweight champion [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] will put his title on the line against former two-division champ [autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag], who is coming out of retirement. It’s tight with the oddsmakers, but who has more to gain or lose?
“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel. You can watch this week’s episode in the video above.
Check out the latest episode of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze.”
Monday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.
On Episode 3,357, the boys bring on guest [autotag]Brendan Loughnane[/autotag] from the PFL. Plus, they look back at this past Saturday’s blockbuster BKFC 41 event, as well as UFC Fight Night 223. Plus, they discuss the latest on Nate Diaz, look ahead to UFC 288 and more. Tune in!
Stream or download this and all episodes of MMA Junkie Radio over at OmnyStudio. You can also catch it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and more. A new episode of the podcast is released every Monday and Thursday.
Luke Rockhold’s face has all the damage of a brutal BKFC 41 debut loss to Mike Perry.
[autotag]Luke Rockhold[/autotag]’s face has all the damage of a brutal BKFC 41 debut loss to Mike Perry on Saturday.
Rockhold, a former UFC and Strikeforce champion, suffered a second-round TKO loss to Perry at 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colo. The fight was stopped when he ate a stiff shot, then removed his mouth piece, convincing the referee to wave off the action.
BKFC president David Feldman revealed Rockhold’s “teeth got cracked” at the post-fight press conference, and Rockhold verified as much on Sunday when he posted a video statement to Instagram showing all the aftermath on his face.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Crq5L8ktU2m
“Well f*ck,” Rockhold said in the video. “What can I say? You can check bareknuckle off the list. Some crazy sh*t. Those little knuckles got me, square on the front two (teeth). Maybe a beard. Maybe a better mouthpiece. It was a good fight. It’s a shame that it ended that way. Motherf*cker Mike, you tough bastard. Congrats. I’m not done. Some gloves would be nice, though.”
Rockhold did not speak further on what the future holds for him. The 38-year-old parted ways with the UFC in 2022 after he asked for his release, then joined BKFC and lost his debut to Perry.
BKFC 41 was the focal point of the combat sports world on Saturday, and now it faces the challenge of trying to repeat that success.
I’m humble enough to admit I was among those skeptical about BKFC from the start. Shedding the gloves felt sideshow-ish at first, and it seemed like the promotion wouldn’t have the staying power to etch a footprint in the combat sports space.
Following Saturday’s BKFC 41 event at 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colo., however, the future looks brighter than ever.
Although BKFC has had some memorable moments since its inception less than five years ago – from the gruesome war between Artem Lobov and Jason Knight to Paige VanZant’s appearances and more – the organization’s 41st event (a number many, including myself, thought it would never reach) was its most impactful to date.
A big debt of gratitude for the traction BKFC 41 received is owed to [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag], who to the surprise of many, pulled up ringside midway through the card and was the gravitational force we all know him to be. Fans and reporters in the venue posted videos of his every move, the broadcast panned to him at every opportunity, and the icing on the cake was his entry into the ring for an animated faceoff with [autotag]Mike Perry[/autotag].
Perry, for his part, is also the perfect face for BKFC. He was built for this style of combat sports, and showed it once again by rearranging former UFC champion Luke Rockhold’s teeth en route to a second-round TKO stoppage in the headlining act of the card.
Although the ending was unfortunate due to Rockhold’s cracked teeth, the booking with Perry was an A+ move by BKFC. Both men did their part in promoting the fight and drawing interest in the weeks leading up, and the BKFC brass put together an ideal undercard cast of MMA notables.
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The epic brawl between former UFC champ [autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] and [autotag]Chad Mendes[/autotag] will go down among the wilder fights in company history, with both men dropping each other two times over the course of the five rounds. Then there was plenty of brutality on the undercard, too.
All in all, it’s hard for BKFC to ask for much more than it got Saturday. BKFC president David Feldman wasn’t lying at the post-fight news conference when he said the card was the focal point of the combat sports world, even if part of that was serendipitous with no Bellator or PFL and UFC putting on one of its weaker cards in recent memory – both on paper and in practice – with UFC Fight Night 223.
Scanning through Twitter and other social media platforms, I saw some people suggest BKFC could be legitimate and viable competition for UFC after the success of this event. We can shut that down right now. It’s not happening remotely close to anytime soon, at least, because BKFC simply doesn’t have the roster to consistently compete at the moment. That’s part of the growth process.
A big success for BKFC would be developing a home grown star. It has a handful of fighters on the roster who are becoming better known for their work in BKFC than MMA or boxing, but if someone can build roots in that world and break through, it could be a game changer.
BKFC 42 goes down in less than two weeks on May 12, and you’d really have to stretch to name a single fighter on the card that would be recognizable to the non-hardcore audience who turned into BKFC 41. There’s always going to be a group out there who will watch anything, but it’s the “casual” fans who saw the names Perry vs. Rockhold, Alvarez vs. Mendes, or saw a McGregor clip pop up and opted to check it out, that are the difference maker. That’s the group that needs its attention captured to make real inroads as a brand.
The coverage for every upcoming event on BKFC’s announced schedule will be nowhere equivalent to what it got this weekend, and rightfully so. Not just because the depth of the card don’t meet the standard of BKFC 41, but also because it will be swallowed up with the UFC’s stretch of 11 events over the next 12 weeks. And Bellator’s multiple cards. And the resumption of the PFL season in early June.
This night was a home run for BKFC, no question. The company currently has more positives going for it thank negatives, too. BKFC 41 had the fighter name value, solid production for the viewer and was paced well. The athletes seem to feel well taken care of at large from a financial perspective, as well.
Now BKFC faces the task of trying to put on events of this magnitude more frequently. Can it gobble up more notable fighters in the free agent market? And more importantly, can it keep those free agents around long enough to be useful chess pieces? That will be key in putting on more significant events and taking a bigger share of the limited combat sports pie.
Eddie Alvarez plans to continue bareknuckle boxing following his debut win against Chad Mendes at BKFC 41 in Colorado.
It looks like Saturday’s bareknuckle boxing debut for [autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] was not just a one-off.
The former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion plans to return to the BKFC ring after a successful debut for the promotion with a win over fellow ex-UFC fighter Chad Mendes in a split decision. The was the co-main event of BKFC 41 at 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colo.
Alvarez says fans can expect a return to the ring from “The Underground King.”
“I’ll be fighting again,” Alvarez told reporters at the BKFC 41 post-fight news conference. “I say this because this training camp for me was like, I wanted to try something new. This is something new for me. I’ve never done this before. But when you take away the wrestling and the kicks and the knees and the elbows – I know my face looks like this, but this is going to go away in two weeks. The training camp was so much more enjoyable than an MMA training camp. Chad would know this and guys who do MMA would know this. The training camp for bareknuckle is so enjoyable.
“I had a lot of fun. My coaches had a lot of fun learning the nuances of the sport. I took a shot. I tried something new. More importantly, I did it because I got Chad. I was going to sit for as long as I needed to sit before I got an opponent where fans would get really excited about. I got the opponent and I think it showed tonight why I took the fight.”
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Alvarez, who’s been around the fight game for close to two decades, is high on bareknuckle boxing’s ceiling, specifically BKFC as a promotion. BKFC has become popular in recent years, and Alvarez thinks it’s bound to get even bigger.
“I say that because when you look at every sport and the evolution of every sport – basketball started the shot clock, football started to wind things down and shorten up the play to make it more action packed,” Alvarez said. “I felt that in there today, and I was able to recover and keep it exciting because it’s only 10 minutes. It’s so difficult to fight for five five-minute rounds.
“Everybody who fought knows how big of a feat that is. It’s so ridiculous. So to shorten it up to 10 minutes, it makes it more action-packed, more feasible. I think the fans win, I win, Chad wins, we all win when we’ve got to fight for two-minute (rounds).”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for BKFC 41.
Why former UFC standout Chad Mendes is walking away from combat sports after BKFC 41.
[autotag]Chad Mendes[/autotag]’s short career in bareknuckle boxing has come to an end.
The former UFC title challenger announced his retirement from the bareknuckle boxing world Saturday following his split decision loss to Eddie Alavarez in the co-main event of BKFC 41 in Broomfield, Colo. This venture down the bareknuckle boxing road was the latest chapter of Mendes’ fighting career. He retired from MMA in late 2018.
But now it looks like Mendes is done altogether with combat sports.
“I’ve been going back and forth with this,” Mendes told reporters at the BKFC 41 post-fight news conference when asked about his decision to retire. “Obviously I retired from the UFC back in 2018, and I was honestly done. I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into a few businesses and just spending the family quality time that I love doing.
“I had no desire (to fight), but something like this came up, and obviously the pay is really good, and it’s something that’s new, which kind of excited me, so I did it. I was done after that first one, but then they dangled somebody like this dude (Alvarez) in front of me, so I was like, ‘All right, I’ll do one more. This could be the retirement fight.'”
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Mendes debuted in bareknuckle boxing in February 2022 with a TKO of Joshuah Alvarez at BKFC: KnuckleMania 2. The fight against Eddie Alvarez was Mendes’ second and now final bareknuckle boxing bout.
The 37-year-old still loves fighting, but has bigger priorities outside the ring.
“I just don’t need to be doing this sh*t anymore,” Mendes said. “It’s fun, but I feel like at this point I’m just being selfish. I’ve got a solid family that loves me, and I’ve got other things in the works that I pour my heart and soul into to be successful at. But man, that was one hell of a fight.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for BKFC 41.
BKFC president David Feldman talked Conor McGregor’s appearance, Luke Rockhold, Bec Rawlings, Eddie Alvarez and more after BKFC 41.
Bareknuckle Fighting Championship returned Saturday with arguably its biggest event yet.
BKFC 41 took place in Broomfield, Colo., near Denver, and was a pay-per-view for the promotion. Judging by the numbers on social media, BKFC was the biggest player in the combat sports game this week, and one of the most trending sports events in the world Saturday.
After the event, BKFC president David Feldman spoke to the media about the fights, Conor McGregor’s surprise appearance and what’s next.
