Conor McGregor has been back in the headlines this week as he hosted his first press conference as part-owner of BKFC ahead of the company’s scheduled event in Marbella, Spain later this year.
The former UFC two-weight world champion was scheduled to fight in the Octagon for the first time in three years at UFC 303 recently, but a foot injury put paid to those plans. Speaking at the BKFC press conference, the Irishman revealed that he only has two fights left on his current contract with the UFC and said that he has ambitions to test the waters inside the bareknuckle ring once those commitments are fulfilled.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at five intriguing options we would love to see “The Notorious” face in BKFC.
Nate Diaz
The rivalry between McGregor and Diaz has simply refused to go away ever since the pair first met inside the Octagon at UFC 196 back in 2016. Diaz took the fight on short notice as a replacement for McGregor’s original opponent Rafael Dos Anjos and shocked the world by handing the then-featherweight champion his first defeat in the UFC.
McGregor won an immediate rematch via majority decision just five months later and it seemed it would only be a matter of time before the pair would square off again. The rubber match never came, however, and Diaz fought out his UFC contract, finishing up with a submission victory over Tony Ferguson in September of 2022.
Since leaving the promotion, Diaz has pivoted to the world of boxing, where he has been defeated by Jake Paul and picked up a win over former UFC rival Jorge Masvidal, although he is now embroiled in a legal battle as he still hasn’t been paid for that fight.
Should McGregor fight out his UFC contract and join Diaz as a free agent, it’s likely the pair would become the hottest ticket in combat sports.
Mike Perry
The current BKFC middleweight champion and the face of the promotion. Perry’s career since leaving the UFC back in 2021 has gone from strength to strength, as he has won all five of his fights inside the squared circle and become the biggest name in the world of bareknuckle fighting.
“Platinum” has taken out a list of former UFC fighters under the BKFC banner such as Luke Rockhold, Eddie Alvarez and Thiago Alves. He has become the highest paid fighter in the promotion and will fight Jake Paul in a lucrative crossover boxing bout this Saturday night in Tampa, Florida.
Although he failed to enter the title picture during his career inside the Octagon, Perry is now regarded as one of the biggest draws in combat sports outside the UFC.
Jorge Masvidal
“Gamebred” was a mainstay in the UFC’s lightweight and welterweight divisions between 2013-2023. He twice fought for the 170lb title against Kamaru Usman but was unsuccessful both times. After leaving the UFC (and temporarily retiring) in 2023 he recently made his first foray into the world of boxing when he faced Nate Diaz.
Although the event was a commercial failure and Masvidal lost a close decision to Diaz, he is rumoured to be planning to pursue some more fights inside the ring going forward. McGregor also revealed on social media that he won $1.625 million after placing a bet on Diaz to beat Masvidal.
Paulie Malignaggi
This one could be considered a long shot, but “Magic Man” and “The Notorious” certainly shared one of the most interesting beefs in the recent history of combat sports.
McGregor invited the former IBF and WBA welterweight boxing champion into his camp as a sparring partner in the lead up to his infamous boxing match against Floyd “Money” Mayweather back in 2017. After sharing multiple clips of McGregor knocking down Malignaggi during the workouts all over social media, tensions between the pair spiralled and rumors circulated that they would meet in a boxing match further down the line.
Although that fight never happened, Malignaggi did face McGregor’s former training partner and close friend Artem Lobov in a bareknuckle fight back in 2019 at BKFC 6, surprisingly losing by unanimous decision to the former UFC featherweight.
Malignaggi has carved out a career as a boxing commentator and analyst and has worked on BKFC events since his retirement from fighting. At 42-years-old, could we see him tempted into one more fight with his old rival?
Khabib Nurmagomedov
Could it be? Could the stars possibly be aligning for one of the most heated rivalries in the history of the UFC to be rekindled?
After Nurmagomedov conclusively beat “The Notorious” at UFC 229 back in 2018 to claim the UFC lightweight championship, the Irishman campaigned tirelessly for a rematch. His disappointment at Khabib announcing his retirement just two years later was captured on camera during the filming of his documentary McGregor Forever, and the Dubliner has never missed an opportunity to berate Nurmagomedov when given the chance in the years that have passed.
Now that Khabib has seemingly fallen upon hard times and into some hot water with the Russian tax authorities, could we see him backed into a corner and forced into accepting a big-money payday to face his old rival once again?
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