Is there any truth to McGregor’s claim that Emelianenko may fight bare knuckle, or is it just more talk from ‘The Notorious’ chancer?
Conor McGregor is the big hype man for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, and the hype business is booming. But is the hype he’s selling going to pay off, or is it all just wolf tickets?
McGregor was in Italy on Sunday afternoon to promote the upcoming April 26th BKFC event featuring cruiserweight champ Chris Camozzi rematching Lorenzo Hunt. Not a matchup that will generate much ink, but “The Notorious” made up for that with his own big announcements.
Not only did McGregor declare he would absolutely fight for a BKFC belt some day, he also said the promotion was working on a deal to bring heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko out of retirement.
The comment was spurred by a fan calling Conor a legend up there with ‘Gracie and Fedor.’
Conor McGregor: Hey Fedor, we’re waiting. pic.twitter.com/zKX7OWvbI2
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) February 16, 2025
“Fedor Emelianenko? Stay tuned, we might have some announcement with Fedor Emelianenko,” McGregor replied.
“Heeeey Fedor, we’re waiting!” McGregor crowed. “Some news might be coming with Fedor Emelianenko! Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is signing and acquiring the best fighters of all time, past, present and future, and everyone wants to be a part of this.”
It’s certainly possible that BKFC has put forward an offer to Fedor Emelianenko to fight for them, but we doubt “The Last Emperor” would accept. Fedor is now 48 years old and went through a very elaborate and lengthy retirement run with Bellator that saw him beat Tim Johnson in Moscow in 2021 and lose to Ryan Bader in California in 2023.
Thank you Fedor!
The end of an era as “The Last Emperor” leaves his gloves inside the cage. #Bellator290 pic.twitter.com/TIwZWRZmTM
— Bellator Europe (@Bellator_Europe) February 5, 2023
Following that first round loss, he hung up the gloves and has made no indication he plans on returning to combat.
But hey, we’re writing about it, so Conor McGregor wins the attention game for another day. That’s all he seems to be capable of doing, though. Since withdrawing from UFC 303 in June 2024 with a broken pinky toe, there’s been precious little fight news McGregor has talked which has actually walked.
If anything, we’ve been trained over the past two years to doubt every fight announcement he’s made, and this Fedor ‘news’ is no different.