Outside Source
On Thursday, the bare-knuckle boxing promotion put together a press conference titled “Conor McGregor’s Champions Summit,” which brought together the lion’s share of its titlists on stage along with McGregor himself. Additionally, founder David Feldman spoke at length about some of the new developments that would be wheeled out ranging from that night to next year. Most notable is its new tournament that will commence in March 2026.
All male fighters ranging from 185 pounds to heavyweight at 266 pounds will be eligible to participate in BKFC’s 32-man elimination tournament. The total prize amount doled out by BKFC will be a whopping $25 million, in which the victor at the end of the year-long process will take home $15 million. Another, similar tournament will be created next year as well for women, although it may not have the same number of participants or the same high dollar amount for the last triumphant woman.
The BKFC-titled “World’s Baddest $25 Million Tournament” will award high prize moneys to all participants. Seven different payout brackets were announced for the combatants, depending on how they placed—or if they placed at all. The alternates, should they not find a place in the tournament, will receive $50,000 for their efforts. Those in the bottom half of the tournament, ending anywhere from 17th to 32nd place, will pocket six figures in the form of a $100,000 check.
The cash payouts improve as the fighters perform better, with the 9th place fighter down to the 16th place athlete will all receive $200,000. From 5th to 8th place, those combatants collect $300,000. The third and fourth place competitors both get $500,000, while the runner-up gets a million bucks flat. It is unclear at this time if those entering this tournament will also receive their standard contractually obligated salaries or if they will be eligible for post-fight bonus checks.
“The World’s Baddest $25 Million Tournament begins March 2026,” a cigar-chomping McGregor bellowed at the press conference. “Now let me give you a little backstory on this: the weight divisions will be openweight…somewhat. We’ll start from the biggest and baddest in bare-knuckle, 265 pounds, right down to 185 pounds, and these men in this ‘division’ will contest against each other for the $25 million prize, and to see who really is the baddest man on the planet. Let’s go!”
BKFC Adds Numerous Former UFC Fighters to Growing Roster
To immediately bolster its ranks, the organization proclaimed that they had attained the services of four former top-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters. Two of those athletes vied for a UFC belt in the past, while the other two reached the top five in their respective divisions.
Yoel Romero, 48, will be joining the BKFC after a couple matches under the modified-rules league Dirty Boxing. The ex-middleweight title challenger left the UFC after coming up short to Israel Adesanya in 2020. Four appearances under the Bellator MMA banner showed he still could hang in the big leagues, while his last MMA fight came against Thiago Santos in the Professional Fighters League vs. Bellator card in 2024.
Like Romero, Santos was also signed by the BKFC. “Maretta,” age 41, has struggled as of late in combat sports. Since losing a close split decision to Jon Jones in 2019, Santos fought in MMA eight times, winning just once when he took home a lackluster decision over Johnny Walker in 2021. The Brazilian tested the waters in PFL after ending his UFC contract, where he encountered a testosterone-enhanced Rob Wilkinson that later failed a drug test. Along with taking on Romero, he moved up to heavyweight for a one-off against eventual 2024 champ Denis Goltsov.
In addition to Romero and Santos, the PFL signed another man above 40 in the form of 41-year-old Derek Brunson. Similar to the other two, Brunson saw a recent departure from the UFC turn into an opportunity in PFL. He fought just once for them, taking a catchweight contest against Ray Cooper III when Cooper missed weight. He briefly signed to the ill-fated Global Fight League, which fell apart before it could run its May event that had him booked against Omari Akhmedov.
Another pickup when GFL fell apart was Aspen Ladd, ex-UFC bantamweight who too left the UFC after losing three of her last four for greener pastures elsewhere. She split her time in PFL, winning a decision over Julia Budd and tapping Karolina Sobek while coming up short on the scorecards in catchweight affairs to Olena Kolesnyk and Kayla Harrison. Ladd was matched against Alejandra Lara on the same GFL card that Brunson was set for, but that organization has gone silent since its head, Darren Owen, declared a major investing partner withdrew. Finally, the promotion appears to be back on good terms with its star Mike Perry, who never claimed an official BKFC title as he bounced around weight divisions. Frictions grew when he took a one-off boxing match with Jake Paul, but the organization decided to bring him back and set him for a fight against an unmentioned former UFC fighter in October.
With five wins including three stoppages, wrecking names like Luke Rockhold, Eddie Alvarez and Thiago Alves, Perry does celebrate the symbolic “King of Violence” belt awarded after the Alvarez win. Ever the character, McGregor mocked Perry and got in his face, reviving the potential for the two to square off should “Notorious” end his UFC deal and compete in the Squared Circle.
“You’re welcome back because I welcomed you back,” McGregor snarled as he grew closer to an equally intense Perry. “Oct. 11 is your date, and you’ll dance for me, boy. You’ll dance for the owner, and then we can talk! Michael Perry, the return of ‘Platinum,’ and we’ve got some hell of an announcement of an opponent for you, one of the baddest men to ever grace the Ultimate Fighting Championship. When it comes to bare-knuckle, he’s going to throw with you, in front of me for my viewing pleasure. And then I’ll decide if you’re worthy [to face me].”
BKFC Chief David Feldman Plans on Providing Equity to Longtime Fighters
Lumped in during this busy press conference, replete with back-and-forth interactions between their numerous champions and upcoming scheduled foes, was the announcement that BKFC plans on giving company equity to those that fight for BKFC for a long time.
Per Feldman, those that compete at least 10 times or hold belts under the BKFC banner will receive equity of some kind. Those that excel under BKFC, like if they defend their belt, can further add to their equity. The system is apparently tiered similar to the UFC’s internal Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, except the figures appear significantly larger—according to the league, a champ that defends their throne a whopping 10 times, something no BKFC fighter has come close to achieving, would be eligible for $3 million in company part-ownership.
“Me and Conor had a long talk and we said, ‘Let’s do something that no one’s ever done: let’s make all of our fighters owners of the company,’” Feldman remarked, transcription provided by MMA Fighting. “So we’re going to start with every one of our champions, whether they’re a U.K. champion or a world champion, or you’re a long-tenured fighter that has at least 10 fights with us, you’re all going to get equity, right here. I’m not talking about, ‘I’m going to do it next week,’ I’m going to do it tonight.”
McGregor declared, “Do you understand how incredible that is for our combatants to be reward in that way? To join this rise, truly be on the board with us as we rise up the ladder of combat sport. For me, I fought my heart and soul, I gave everything to the rise of a company, and I got nothing for it. Now, here we are, our company, my company, we give back to the fighters who bleed for us. So welcome to the owner’s table, our world champions and our U.K. champions. We are in this together. Let’s go Bare Knuckle familia!”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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