Conor McGregor is a new part owner of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. The announcement was made on April 27 during BKFC Knucklemania 4 at Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
McGregor (22-6), who gears up for his Octagon return against Michael Chandler (23-8) at UFC 303 on June 29 in Las Vegas, previously made a guest appearance at BKFC 41. The event held last April in Broomfield, Colorado, saw Ireland’s former UFC two-division champion taking a mic and going face to face with Mike Perry.
Following the announcement, the message from McGregor was: “Welcome to the big leagues. David Feldman, baby, we did it.”
In the main event of Knucklemania 4, Mike Perry (5-0) of Flint, Michigan dropped and stopped Brazil’s former middleweight champion Thiago Alves (2-1). In the co-main event, British Mick Terrill (8-1) retained his BKFC heavyweight belt via first-round TKO against two-weight champion Lorenzo Hunt (11-2) of Elyria, Ohio.
“We’ve got the biggest guy [Conor McGregor] in all of combat sports who’s now the part owner of the company,” BKFC’s David Feldman said at the Knucklemania 4 post-fight press conference. “It’s going to move the needle immensely. We’re going to do a lot of big things, we’re going to enter a lot of new markets. Conor, thank you, and let’s blow this [expletive] up!”
“It was a great night of fights. Some unfortunate injuries, some unbelievable finishes, an amazing crowd, some huge announcements. All in all, a great night to wrap up our debut in this amazing city.”
“Our viewership numbers are the most views we’ve had in BKFC history, so this was a really good night for us. We’re over 12,000,000 live viewers worldwide, so that’s a phenomenal night for us.”
“Fight of the Night” is David Diaz versus Shane Jordan. They let it all hang out and it was just an unbelievable fight. Twelve bonuses were given tonight. I told the guys in the locker room, with it being our debut in California, you have to go out there and fight your [expletive] off. They fought their [expletive] off, so they’re going to get paid for it.”
“Knockout of the Night is Alfredo ‘El Perro’ Angulo, one of my favorite boxers of all time. Jeremiah Riggs swarmed him, grabbed him by the back of his hair and was hitting him, but Angulo came back with a devastating knockout, and I’m happy for him.”
“It was just a great night for us. I’m very, very happy to be here in Los Angeles.”
Up next on the promotion’s schedule, BKFC 61: Rivera vs Straus on May 11. The event takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.