Conor McGregor appeared to hint that he is open to competing in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) after seeing out his contract with the UFC. The Irishman, who last fought professionally in 2021, revealed that he has two fights remaining as part of his agreement with Dana White’s promotion.
The 36-year-old’s legacy in the UFC is already secure, having become a world champion in both the featherweight and lightweight divisions during his glittering career. However, after three years away from fighting, his return to action does not appear to be any closer to being realized.
A contest versus Michael Chandler had been arranged for ‘The Notorious’ at UFC 303 but the latter eventually pulled out of the bout after suffering a toe injury. Therefore, his last forays into the octagon came in the form of his back-to-back defeats against Dustin Poirier – with his broken tibia at UFC 264 ruling him out for an extended period.
Now, McGregor has confirmed that he still has agreement in place with the MMA promotion but hinted that he has his sights set on life beyond the UFC. Teasing a potential appearance in the BKFC, he said at a press conference: “This is the real deal. No one in combat sports can speak one bad [word] about a bareknuckle fighting champion and that for me is money in the bank.
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“For me, I have a bit business left with Ultimate Fighting Championship, two fights left on my contract, but for sure we got three lightweights up here on the dais and you know, I have my eye on all of [them]. I’m not up here just as an owner. Player-manager I’ll title myself on this one.”
After McGregor became a part of the BKFC ownership group previously, president David Feldman said during KnuckleMania 4: “Look, you’ve got the biggest guy in all of combat sports right now as a part owner of our company. I think it’s just going to move the needle tremendously. We’re going to do a lot of big things. We’re going to open up a lot of new markets.
“Look, we’re partners with Conor McGregor,” he teased, as he spoke with clear optimism about the partnership with the Dubliner, adding: “Everybody in the combat sports world, everybody in the world knows who that guy is. So Conor, thank you, and let’s blow this […] up.”
As for his current fitness after the injury which ruled him out of his fight against Chandler, McGregor told Severe MMA: “I’m in recovery mode, it’s three weeks to the day [since the toe injury happened], it happened three weeks ago today. I’m still here rocking around in the slippers – they’re not bad slippers now, thankfully. And they’re cosy enough.
“But I can’t get into a shoe yet. I’ve done everything they asked. … What was I going to do? Walk out [at the press conference] in my […] bare feet? I couldn’t put my foot into a shoe, so I knew I was like, ‘I can’t’. And the UFC have been stellar for me.”
Taking to Instagram, he spoke about the circumstances surrounding his shelved UFC asserting: “We had a lapse in concentration and engaged in a training session without wearing the full protective gear and I hit the toe off the elbow and broke the toe clean, before vowing to stage his comeback at some point, adding: “But ya get me, I’ll be back. See ya’s soon. See ya at the top. Chandler or not.”
