Conor McGregor recently made waves across Hollywood with his film debut in Jake Gyllenhaal’s Road House. The former two-division UFC champion has been taking some time off from the UFC world due to the film after his 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. However, he is set to return with a bang at the upcoming UFC 303 event.
McGregor has been slowly branching out his avenues beyond the UFC world, even venturing into films. The MMA star made a huge announcement recently that he would be an owner of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC). This exciting move was appreciated by fans who deemed it a great career expansion for McGregor.
Conor McGregor Announces A Big Career Move As the Owner of BKFC
Outside of his successful MMA career, Conor McGregor recently expanded his horizons by entering into films with 2024’s Road House. Many pointed out his deliberately over-the-top performance as one of the highlights of the film. The film is already a big hit on Amazon (with 50 million views over its first two weekends of release via Deadline), making his film transition a success.
McGregor has been claiming that he is now the highest-paid debut actor in Hollywood while promoting the film. While McGregor’s exact salary for the film is unknown, industry insiders estimate that he earned more than the previous record holder Dwayne Johnson, who received $5.5 million for his debut role in The Mummy Returns (via Screenrant).
Now, McGregor is entering another arena in combat sports as he recently announced on Instagram, that he would be the owner of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships (BKFC). In addition to expressing his excitement about his new career move, he gave a shout out to BKFC president David Feldman in his post. McGregor said,
“The Notorious Conor McGregor here. Ladies and gentlemen, the huge announcement that I have for you today, Conor McGregor myself, and McGregor Sports and Entertainment is now an owner of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships. Welcome to the big leagues. David Feldman, baby, we did it.”
Fans were excited with the big announcement and the potential he has at BKFC (in addition to his MMA career). Many praised McGregor for taking new chances that expanded his territory and would provide new challenges as a fighter. Here are some of the reactions on X,
Perfect spokesman for this.
— New Glory (@NewGloryComith) April 28, 2024
Congrats Conor! Welcome to the big leagues! 👊🏻
— SabatAge IT Consulting (@sabatage) April 28, 2024
Bruh just keeps winning! 🤙🏾🍻
— Gil Munoz (@Kaiboy81) April 28, 2024
More options for fighters is a good thing. Love it.
— Eric Does Sports (@EricDoesSports) April 28, 2024
Congrats!!!
— some guy 🤡 (@praisler) April 28, 2024
This unique position places McGregor on a similar level as Dana White on the UFC side. His addition to BKFC will certainly draw more audiences and interest to the sport, increasing its awareness to the masses. He has about 2-3 big UFC matches left in him and it is a wise decision on his part to grab new opportunities.
His new title at BKFC won’t affect the popularity or hurt the UFC brand as there are other UFC stars who have now risen the ranks in the company. Fan-favorites including Islam Makhachev (current UFC Lightweight Champion), Max Holloway, and Alex Pereira (current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion) are elevating the brand in the past few years and thus, McGregor’s move is not a cause for alarm for the UFC.
BKFC Is a Whole Another Challenge than UFC/MMA
Bare-knuckle fighting is similar to boxing but it is a more bloody and intense version of it. While MMA fighters use gloves and can use several moves to inflict damage on the opponent, players do not use padded gloves in bare-knuckle fighting. However, fighters do get serious lacerations and damage to the face.
While UFC fighters can end a match by submission, Bare-knuckle fighting goes all the way till the opponent gets totally knocked out (equivalent to a last-man-standing match). Unlike MMA, bare-knuckle fighters are aware of the limitations of not wearing gloves, thus the room for creativity and unique moves is scarce.
The BKFC has been slowly riding up in popularity since its promotion in 2018 led by David Feldman. In its promotion year, the company made only $500,000 in revenue. By 2024, its brand value has skyrocketed to $411 million (via Rolling Stone). While it has a long way to go to reach the heights of the UFC, it is already a successful venture. The upcoming BKFC: Knucklemania IV event on April 27, 2024, is set to be headlined by the match between Mike Perry and Thiago Alves.
Conor McGregor Enjoyed Every Second of the Filmmaking Process on Road House
Conor McGregor made his film debut recently in Doug Liman’s Road House, a reimagining of the 1989 film of the same name starring Patrick Swayze. Jake Gyllenhaal took on the role of Dalton from Swayze and the two actors had very intense and physically demanding scenes throughout the film.
In an interview with The Mac Life. McGregor revealed that he was initially not sure how making a film would be or whether he would like the experience of it. However, as he got deep into the filming process, he was in awe of the hard work that everyone put into the film and the ‘movie magic’ of it all. McGregor enjoyed every second of shooting the film as he told the outlet,
“I was just in awe of it all, to be honest with you, the whole process. I didn’t know how I was going to take to it,” he continued. “I didn’t know whether I was going to like it, to be honest. I’m a fighting man – that’s my bread and butter. It’s where I come from… I’m not an actor, but I’m show business. That was my vibe to it. I felt that. I enjoyed every second of it.”
McGregor clearly had a lot of fun playing the role and it seemed he retained his cheeky and wild personality for the role of Knox. McGregor will soon be heading back to the octagon as he is set to face off against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29, 2024, at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Fans can watch McGregor in Road House on Amazon Prime.
