{"id":953396,"date":"2026-11-05T10:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T10:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/953396\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T10:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T10:18:10","slug":"conor-mcgregor-reveals-ufc-exit-and-bareknuckle-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/953396\/","title":{"rendered":"Conor McGregor reveals UFC exit and bareknuckle plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Conor McGregor plans to leave his gloves inside the Octagon \u2014 but not because he\u2019s finished fighting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The former two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion was a special guest at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/jiu-jitsu-tournaments\/483753\/hype-italy-fight-card-start-time-date-and-location-covington-vs-rosas-jr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hype Italy<\/a> earlier yesterday (Tues., Oct. 3, 2026) in Rome, watching a card packed with bareknuckle boxing, dirty boxing and submission grappling (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/bjj-news\/483887\/highlights-watch-raul-rojas-jr-tap-trash-talking-colby-covington-in-40-seconds-and-on-super-short-notice-hype-italy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">results here<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cI really enjoy bareknuckle fighting,\u201d McGregor said. \u201cI don\u2019t think there is any chance of a boring fight in bareknuckle. Now, I am a mixed martial artist \u2014 maybe I\u2019m saying this because I had a bad time out the last time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cGood MMA \u2014 really good MMA \u2014 is hard to beat, but bareknuckle is very exciting, very dangerous and it takes more courage,\u201d McGregor continued. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to a bareknuckle fight myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">When asked about the chances of competing in bareknuckle boxing after completing his MMA career, \u201cThe Notorious\u201d revealed exactly how he envisions his UFC exit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cBig chance. Big chance!\u201d McGregor said. \u201cI\u2019m going to lay down my gloves in that Octagon for my final UFC contract [fight], but not to retire \u2014 to announce bareknuckle. Teeth come and go, just like a nose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The declaration wasn\u2019t completely unexpected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Earlier this week, McGregor announced that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-news\/483513\/conor-mcgregor-declares-his-final-fight-will-blow-canelo-alvarez-away-at-box-office\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">his next appearance would be his final UFC fight<\/a>, promising to make the most of his farewell once he recovers from knee surgery. The Irish superstar has repeatedly referred to his comeback as his \u201cfinal fight\u201d and \u201clast dance\u201d with the promotion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">McGregor didn\u2019t provide a specific calendar date for his bareknuckle debut, but he did reveal the intended timeline: one final UFC appearance followed by a move into bareknuckle boxing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">That timeline remains dependent on his recovery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">While McGregor didn\u2019t specifically mention BKFC during his Hype Italy answer, the promotion is his most obvious destination. He became a BKFC co-owner in 2024 and has repeatedly teased fighting without gloves once his UFC obligations are complete.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">BKFC President David Feldman has also said he would \u201cbet the house\u201d that McGregor eventually competes for the promotion, provided the former UFC champion emerges from his final Octagon appearance without another significant injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">If everything goes according to McGregor\u2019s plan, his bareknuckle debut could happen in late 2027. First, however, he must get healthy and complete his UFC farewell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">To checkout UFC\u2019s upcoming schedule of events click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/pages\/ufc-mma-schedule\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conor McGregor plans to leave his gloves inside the Octagon \u2014 but not because he\u2019s finished fighting. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":953397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,34465,802,40762,85,1396,355513],"class_list":["post-953396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bare-knuckle-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news","tag-ufc-mma-social-media-videos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/953397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}