BKFC President Hints At Riyadh Season Collaboration
BKFC President David Feldman is confident about collaborating with Riyadh Season.
The Saudis have made a major impact in combat sports, investing heavily in boxing and MMA. They helped put on the biggest boxing fight in recent memory, setting up Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship. The fight was a major success, with Usyk becoming the first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
They have also set up the rematch, which will take place on December 21. The Saudis have equally invested in MMA with the PFL and the UFC. The PFL held its Bellator Champs card earlier this year in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the UFC held its first event in Saudi Arabia in June. Further collaborations followed, as the Saudis sponsored the UFC 306 event, which took place at The Sphere.
Feldman On Riyadh Season
It was the first time the arena had a combat sports event, which was headlined by Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili. Moving forward, Feldman wants to get his own piece of the pie. The President of BKFC revealed that Conor McGregor had been having discussions with the Saudis. The Irishman is a part owner of BKFC and has attended numerous press conferences as he prepares for his life outside of the UFC.
McGregor has two fights left on his UFC deal, but he has not fought since losing to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in 2021. He was meant to take on Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29. However, The Notorious pulled out after breaking his toe. During his absence from the octagon, McGregor has been making moves as a part-time owner, one of which was meeting with the Saudis. Feldman expects positive news following those discussions.
“Yeah, news coming. Conor had a great meeting with them yesterday. Fantastic news coming,” Feldman said
McGregor’s Influence
This is a major step in the right direction. McGregor has shown himself to be one of the biggest sports stars in MMA. The presser for the Michael Chandler fight sold out in just nine minutes. Meanwhile, the live gate was expected to set a new UFC record of over $20 million.
That demonstrated that McGregor’s pulling power was still strong despite not being in the octagon for over three years. If BKFC can get the Saudis involved, the organization will have the potential to become much bigger. Feldman has said that he wants to ensure that BKFC becomes one of the leading promotions in the world so that it can rival the UFC and others alike.
“We [and McGregor] had a great talk this weekend, it was just me and him talking and I said to him ‘I don’t know if you really believe me, but this is going to be the biggest thing in the world in a few years, there’s nothing that’s going to be bigger than this, trust me.’ He goes, ‘It’s going to be two years.. [Conor] sees the vision. Are we ever going to be the biggest combat sport in the world? Probably not honestly but we’re definitely going to be one of the biggest. Absolutely. The numbers just keep going up,” Feldman stated
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