Conor McGregor’s skills as a man of the court were at full force at BKFC 41.
After the main event of BKFC 41 in Broomfield, Colorado, this past Saturday, McGregor walked out of the crowd and stepped into the ring after being called out by winner Mike Perry. The two met in a moving but respectful encounter that had fans buzzing over the weekend and McGregor himself is still navigating the moment come Monday morning.
BKFC President David Feldman appeared MMA watch on Monday to explain how “The Notorious” came to be sitting in the crowd.
“We were actually going to use his security before for a few things, and we’d go back and forth with them and he said, ‘I think Conor wants to come to this event,'” Feldman said. “My friend Dave Cranston hit me and said Conor McGregor wants to come and I said, ‘Cool, let’s We get it.” [Cranston] “I’m not 100 percent sure yet,” he said, and we didn’t really know until right before the event started that he was definitely coming, and then he flew in from L.A. and flew to Broomfield. We carried it and it appeared legendary.
“Forget he came – that’s cool. He walked into our ring and accepted a challenge that probably would never happen, let’s be honest. He’s under contract with the UFC, but you never know what happens. To accept a challenge to Mike Berry and say how much he loves this sport and ‘It’s a great sport’ and “I have to try this” and “Yeah, let’s do this” and wear one of BKFC’s belts was unbelievable. It’s something people pay millions of dollars for that kind of fame, and it happened for free to us.”
Not only did McGregor go head-to-head with Perry, he did so with the BKFC championship belt slung on one shoulder. Apparently, the title was borrowed from two-division champion Lorenzo Hunt.
Pictures and videos of McGregor at the BKFC gold-adorned ring quickly went viral, much to Feldman’s delight.
“He walked into the ring and one of his statements, he said, ‘I haven’t even fought for this promotion yet and I already have their belt,’” Feldman said, “so that was cool too.” We have worked hard. Nothing was gifted to us. We’ve climbed every bit of the way we’ve come here, and I’m not saying we’re at the top yet, we’re far from the top, but everyone – and I mean everyone – in combat sports has been talking about us this week.”
According to Feldman, he was aware Perry had a callout should he win on Saturday, which he did with a second-round stoppage to former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold; However, Feldman says Perry told him the plan was to call Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, who was also present. Cerrone defeated Perry via submission when the two fought in the UFC Octagon back in November 2018.
Once Perry turned his attention to McGregor, he had to call his shot, and it couldn’t have been better for Feldman and BKFC, even if that matchup never materialized.
“I had no idea and didn’t even think if he was [call McGregor out]”I didn’t think Connor would jump in the ring,” Feldman said. “That was a great moment for us and we’ll obviously never interfere with what he’s doing with the UFC.
“Two guys on my team hung out with him afterward and he just said, ‘This is what fighting is supposed to be like. This is the best thing I’ve ever seen in a fight.’”
If the UFC was upset about McGregor’s comments or the fact that he showed up at the event, Feldman hasn’t heard from the promotion. He wants to make it clear that while his team was happy to accommodate McGregor’s arrival in Colorado and take him to the parade, there was no financial incentive for McGregor to attend BKFC 41.
The happiest accident was the result, which may have boosted BKFC to new heights.
“We’re not paying anyone to be there,” Feldman said. “We’ll never do that, that’s not our thing. … We’ll never do that, and that’s not what we’re trying to do here. We’re trying to grow this thing organically and we’re in a very different place now. As we grow that, I always say that this The event could turn around or mark a turning point for us.It was definitely a turning point for us.
“We bet everything on this event, we had a lot of success. Sometimes they say go home or go home, luckily we didn’t have to go home. We went big and moved a few notches, I guess. I’m not Never arrogant, not at all, but I think we’ve already parked the car for second place in combat sports at the moment.”