Conor McGregor will drop the gloves and compete for the company he has an ownership stake in once his final contracted fight with the UFC happens, according to one of bare-knuckle’s most legendary fighters ever.

Jimmy Sweeney is the combatant in question, and he is on the heels of notching his first BKFC win at BKFC 91 when he halted Nicholas Vescio in the second stanza of their July 18th contest. This expanded Sweeney’s record in gloveless combat to 30-6 overall, which is a historic marker in the modern era of bare-knuckle boxing.

The four-weight-class and seven-time BKB champion moved down to lightweight for this bout and now eyes European gold at 155 pounds for his next outing. When asked about the return of his Irish compatriot McGregor and for deeper thoughts on how that inauspicious fight played out against Max Holloway in their UFC 329 rematch, Sweeney said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],

“No, to be fair, I don’t really have much thoughts on it because the man’s got injured in the first few seconds of the fight. I mean, obviously as a sports person, a fighter, you don’t wish injury on anyone. So, just hard looking and I wish him a speed of recovery. Hopefully he can get back in there and show what he’s actually made of and what he’s capable of. So, I do wish him a speed of recovery and hopefully we do see him back in the octagon soon.”

Conor McGregor will fight in BKFC because “he loves the sport so much”, per Sweeney

With ‘The Notorious’ calling for a rubber match against Holloway next Summer when he returns from injury, McGregor is indicating that he is squarely focused on a Holloway trilogy for his final contracted UFC bout. When quipping about how McGregor could next find himself dropping the gloves to throw down once the Summer of 2027 is in the rear view, Sweeney stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],

“Yeah. I think with Conor I think he will fight bare knuckle. I think he will like [to] try it before he retires from sports altogether. I think he loves the sport so much. Obviously he’s part owner of the company and he loves the sport so much. So I think it’s something that he wants to try himself. You know what I mean?”

“He’s been around that, he’s seen it. He gets excited over it. So, I think we will see him in the near future. Well, after he gets this sort of fight out of the way with the UFC contract, but I do feel like we will see him in the BKFC ring soon.”

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