Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: MMA, UFC, Conor McGregor
Chris Nee
MMA big dog Conor McGregor has made the consequences of defeat clear to one of his headline fighters at BKFC 82.
McGregor is a co-owner of BKFC (Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship), which is taking over the Prudential Center, home of the New Jersey Devils, with a blockbuster BKFC 82 card on Saturday.
At the top of the bill is a 75kg welterweight bout between unbeaten 39-year-old Iowan Jeremy Stephens and Mike Perry, who has won all five of his BKFC fights but was knocked out in the boxing ring by Jake Paul last July.
Perry is a veteran of 15 matches in the Ultimate Fighting Championship but bowed out in 2021 having lost his last two by unanimous decision.
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In a feisty press conference in New Jersey before BKFC 82, McGregor warned the 34-year-old that he's expecting a big performance and there will be consequences if Perry doesn't deliver.
"[Perry is] a man that paved the way in this sport and rose up and done incredible things," said the former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion.
"Then he made an error and went a different way, biggest mistake in my opinion, but now he’s back.
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"People are underrating him. He’s got a big point to prove."
Perry was the promotion's fighter of the year in 2023 and holds its King of Violence championship, which is on the line against Stephens on Saturday.
He won both of his 2023 fights by knock-out and went on to stop Thiago Alves in April 2024 but if the King of Violence loses his crown, he might lose his BKFC spot along with it.
"And you know what’s at stake, Michael?" added McGregor.
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"If you don’t perform, you’re gone. You can go back to those exhibition bouts and those misfits where they put on the big gloves, we’ll part ways, but I’m confident you’ll show up and do your thing, and I’m excited to see it."
BKFC was founded in 2018 and held the first officially sanctioned bare knuckle fighting event since the 19th Century.
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It's extreme and violent by definition and has been criticised for that by leading voices elsewhere in the combat sports world.
The King of Violence is a symbolic title and Perry is its first champion.
Stephens is the opponent in his first King of Violence defence after he claimed the title against Eddie Alvarez in 2023.