Eddie Alvarez doubts Conor McGregor will compete in a bare-knuckle fight with BKFC due to the UFC’s substantial investment in him and the difficulty of exiting his UFC contract, despite McGregor’s interest and part-ownership in BKFC.
Ever since Conor McGregor became a part-owner in BKFC, he’s been vocal about wanting to step into the bare-knuckle ring before hanging up his gloves. But Eddie Alvarez isn’t so sure it’ll happen.
Alvarez doesn’t doubt McGregor’s desire or guts to try bare-knuckle fighting. Nope, that’s not it. The real issue? The UFC has too much invested in him to let him slip away and sign elsewhere, like with BKFC.
“Realistically, I think he still has two fights left on his UFC contract,” Alvarez shared with MMA Fighting. “I just know how difficult it is, especially when you’re that valuable to a company.”
He speaks from experience. Back when Alvarez was Bellator’s main attraction, he knew all too well the struggle of breaking free from such contracts. They don’t make it easy—trust me on that one!
In 2012, Alvarez finished his stint with Bellator and planned to join the UFC as a free agent. Simple plan, right? Wrong. It turned into a long, messy battle over matching rights, keeping him tied to Bellator longer than he’d hoped.
What followed was a legal tug-of-war with lawsuits flying back and forth until they finally settled on new terms. Alvarez returned to Bellator for one last hurrah against Michael Chandler but never fought there again after new management gave him an unconditional release.
This whole ordeal stretched over two years, eating away at prime time in Alvarez’s career. Meanwhile, McGregor’s already 36, meaning his window in combat sports is narrowing fast. Yet his value to the UFC keeps climbing, especially with new broadcast deals looming in 2025.
That’s why Alvarez doubts the UFC would ever let McGregor test free agency waters without securing a fresh contract first. If McGregor ever steps into a BKFC ring, it’ll likely be years down the line when he’s no longer competing in the UFC.
“For him, making the company hundreds of millions of dollars, I don’t think it’s going to be an easy exit,” said Alvarez. “I think he still has two more fights with the UFC…So it’s going to be tough for him to fight those fights out and move onto another contract.”
While Alvarez doesn’t expect McGregor to actually grace the BKFC ring anytime soon, he gets why the Irish superstar finds it appealing. BKFC has carved out its own niche in combat sports—different from other MMA promotions trying to compete with the UFC juggernaut.
“They’re not trying to compete with the UFC,” Alvarez noted. “Other guys go wrong trying to compete with a 500-pound gorilla…BKFC is something different.”
Having fought twice in BKFC himself, Alvarez knows firsthand how thrilling and fast-paced these bouts can be—five rounds of pure adrenaline! It’s a sprint from start to finish once that first punch lands; everyone knows what they’re watching: a good old-fashioned fistfight.
“Everybody knows what it’s like—well not everybody—but people can realize what they’re seeing getting hit with a bare fist,” said Alvarez. Wrestling or jiu-jitsu might confuse some fans during an MMA match, but bare-knuckle fighting? It’s straightforward and undeniably gripping!