BKFC president David Feldman detailed how a deal to make Conor McGregor a co-owner of the promotion came about, and how the UFC might feel about the move.
BKFC held its big annual KnuckleMania event on Saturday night in Los Angeles, and the event couldn’t have gone better. The event marked the promotion’s debut in California, where bare knuckle has finally been licensed by the state commission. Their top star “Platinum” Mike Perry notched another KO win — watch that highlight here. And Conor McGregor was announced as a new part-owner of the promotion.
Not bad for a bloody niche combat sport that spent the majority its first few years in Biloxi, Mississippi.
During the KnuckleMania 4 post-fight press conference, president David Feldman discussed McGregor’s buy-in of the company. No numbers were divulged, but both Feldman and McGregor are clearly excited to be working together.
“You’ve got the guy who has the most viewed movie in Amazon history, right?” Feldman said. “I mean, it wasn’t because of his acting — not that he was bad at acting, but it wasn’t because of his acting, it was because it was Conor McGregor. It wasn’t Jake Gyllenhaal that drove those views. It was Conor McGregor that drove those views.”
“He’s one of the most popular guys in the entire world. He’s one of the most popular and influential combat sports fighters of all time, or personalities of all time. I mean, you tell me. You get a guy like that, anything he touches turns to gold. I want that Midas touch for us, so we brought it over.”
The partnership started up a year ago when McGregor showed up in person to watch Mike Perry destroy Luke Rockhold’s teeth in the main event of BKFC 41.
Conor McGregor is in the building and slamming whiskey at BKFC 41 #BKFC41 #UFC pic.twitter.com/7XRdYVOZiu
— bjpenndotcom (@bjpenndotcom) April 30, 2023
“He jumped in the ring, he called out Mike Perry, you know, in fun,” Feldman recounted. “And one thing led to another. We partnered with his beer, Forged Irish Stout, and they became a sponsor of us. And he fell in love with this. We had some unbelievable conversations, some great ideas already exchanging.”
“It was funny. I was telling my wife, I was dying for Conor McGregor to call me. Now the guy won’t stop calling me. It’s unbelievable, he is so excited about this thing. I really think it just completely takes us to the next level.”
One member of the press asked what Feldman thought UFC CEO Dana White would think of the deal.
“Listen, Dana White has a juggernaut with the UFC,” Feldman said. “I mean, Conor McGregor certainly moves the needle for him, but he’s very, very successful without him. Not that he’s fighting for us, but him promoting our product … who knows? You’re probably a little mad. Your number one star is gonna talk about a different company, so you’re probably not very happy about it.”
“But he’s not worried about us. Not yet.”