Conor McGregor was in full-on salesman mode on Thursday at a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship news conference in Marbella, Spain. McGregor was selling bare knuckle boxing as a sport, and the BKFC brand, in particular, to fans, media and, most of all, it seemed, to other fighters.
During the news conference, McGregor dropped the tidbit that you may have seen on social media: When his UFC contract is up, he's planning to fight for BKFC. He has had an ownership interest in the company since April.
Of course, the news that went viral was not that McGregor was openly recruiting fighters from other organizations to try BKFC, or to sell fans on it. It was the idea that he may fight for the company.
"I'm not up here just as an owner," McGregor said during his prepared remarks. "Player/manager, I’ll title myself on this one."
The likelihood that McGregor ever fights for BKFC is very low. He hasn't fought in any type of fight since 2021, when he injured his leg in his third bout with Dustin Poirier. He was supposed to fight Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29, but broke a pinkie toe and withdrew from the fight a little more than two weeks out.
UFC CEO Dana White is essentially refusing to talk about McGregor until a fight is signed and scheduled. Though McGregor said on social media that the Chandler fight will occur in 2024, I'll refer to a line White often uses when asked to respond to something McGregor has said: "Conor says a lot of things," White will invariably say.
McGregor was nothing short of brilliant during the news conference, both when he went to the podium and then later when he was answering questions from the media.
He raved about the product and about BKFC owner/founder Dave Feldman as a visionary. He said the money was there to pay the fighters well and said he thought winning a BKFC championship would soon be one of the most significant feats in combat sports.
He said the October 12 BKFC card will be held in a bull ring in Marbella, and told the fighters who are competing on the card to bring it.
He positioned and sold the company perfectly. If you are a fighter and it didn't move you after you heard that passionate and eloquent pitch from McGregor, someone needs to check you for a pulse.
But he went way over the top in suggesting he'd fight himself. He's 36 years old now, and if he does complete the two fights on his UFC contract, as he'd be required to do before being free to sign with BKFC, it'll take at least a year. His body hasn't held up for him. He's not been able to get to the post on a consistent basis in eight years.
In 2016, he fought Nate Diaz in non-title bouts on March 6 and August 20 and faced Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight title on November 12. After that, though, his appearances in fights became increasingly rare. After Alvarez, it was nine months until he boxed Floyd Mayweather and then it was another 14 months until he fought Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight belt. It was 14 months from the Nurmagomedov fight until he met Donald Cerrone and then it was a year until Poirier 2. He fought Poirier a third time seven months later, on July 10, 2021, and hasn't fought since.
He has a great passion for fighting, but logic suggests he won't be back. I have no doubt that if he could get off the couch and fight someone tomorrow, he'd do it. It's the training part and preparing for the fights that is so brutal and so hard to do when you've made as much money as McGregor has earned.
He's extraordinarily wealthy and is one of a handful of fighters who have earned generational wealth in combat sports. He's also one of the few who has to this point not only maintained his fortune, but grown it.
If he keeps his passion for BKFC, he'll be an invaluable tool in helping grow not only the company but the sport. That's what White did for the UFC. White built the UFC into a juggernaut, but he also saved the sport of mixed martial arts.
McGregor can have that impact for BKFC. At what degree remains to be seen, but McGregor no doubt will make a tangible difference for the promotion.
It just seems like a stretch to believe he'll ever fight without gloves. And if he does fight, will he be even a fraction of what he once was? If he's not, as seems increasingly likely, well, he's a smart and prideful man who wouldn't want to suffer the ignominy of being defeated by someone most of the world has never heard of previously.
I believe Conor the promoter of BKFC fights with all my heart. Conor the bare-knuckle fighter, though, is another thing entirely. I have a hard time envisioning that.