Mac Bygraves helplessly told his corner over and over that he couldn’t see. Somehow, they sent him right back out anyway. Just 26 seconds into the third round, Gaz Corran made them pay for it. And while it may sound like a scene from a gritty yet brutal martial arts movie, this is unfortunately something that actually just happened.
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The ugly sequence unfolded at the Conor McGregor-led BKFC’s latest event, BKFC 94 in Manchester, where Bygraves was stopped after three knockdowns despite reportedly warning his corner multiple times between rounds that his vision was gone. And it’s no surprise that the decision has since drawn plenty of criticism, with Ariel Helwani among those questioning why the fight was allowed to continue.
“Awful stuff on the BKFC broadcast,” Helwani wrote on X. “Fighter tells his corner multiple times; I can’t see. I can’t see. Corner ignores him and just keeps saying, Do you want to keep fighting or not?
“He clearly didn’t. HE COULDN’T SEE, he said repeatedly. Seconds later … KO’d. Awful. Negligent. He should fire that corner.”
Awful stuff on the BKFC broadcast. Fighter tells his corner MULTIPLE times, I can’t see. I can’t see. Corner ignores him and just keeps saying, Do you want to keep fighting or not? He clearly didn’t. HE COULDN’T SEE, he said repeatedly. Seconds later … KO’d. Awful. Show more
Bygraves was fighting Gaz Corran for the BKFC UK Middleweight Title, but once the third round started, the Briton wasted absolutely no time. Just 26 seconds later, the referee had seen enough after three knockdowns, handing the 2-0 fighter the TKO victory.
The whole thing gets really uncomfortable when you consider that Mac Bygraves apparently told his corner exactly what was wrong before the final round. Whatever was happening with his vision, he was making it pretty clear that he couldn’t see. And somehow, he was still sent straight back into a bare-knuckle fight.
That’s where the criticism really starts to hit. Fighters are always going to want to keep going, but that’s also why they have a corner there in the first place. If your fighter is repeatedly telling you he can’t see, that should be a massive red flag.
At the very least, Bygraves’ corner should have taken a much closer look before sending him back out. Instead, he went back in, and just 26 seconds later, the fight was over.
The incident at BKFC also brings back memories of another recent fight where a corner came under fire for sending an injured fighter back out.
Back in July, Tyrell Fortune took some serious damage during his UFC Abu Dhabi fight against Rizvan Kuniev. Between rounds, Fortune reportedly told his corner that one of Kuniev’s knees had badly hurt his ribs and that he was having trouble breathing.
Despite hearing that, his corner sent him straight back out for another round. Kuniev didn’t waste much time taking advantage of it. He landed a flying knee before swarming Fortune with a barrage of unanswered shots, forcing the referee to finally step in and stop the fight.
That immediately raised the obvious question: why didn’t Tyrell Fortune’s corner make that call first? Their fighter was already two rounds down and clearly struggling, yet he was sent back out and ended up taking even more damage.
And we’ve seen the exact opposite happen this year, with a corner choosing to step in before their fighter could take any more punishment.
When Ilia Topuria’s right eye swelled completely shut during his UFC Freedom 250 title fight against Justin Gaethje in June, his brother and cornerman Aleksandre Topuria knew there was no point taking chances and waved off the fight.
It officially ended the Spanish-Georgian’s run as lightweight champion, but it also meant he wasn’t going to keep fighting with his vision seriously compromised.
And that’s what makes the Mac Bygraves situation so uncomfortable. Fighters are always going to want to keep going, especially when a title is on the line. That’s just the mindset they have. But sometimes, the people in the corner have to be the ones to say, “That’s enough.”
It is also worth noting that the BKFC controversy also comes shortly after Daniel Cormier questioned another corner for allowing a badly damaged fighter to continue.
Daniel Cormier previously questioned a corner for sending a battered fighter back out
At UFC Vegas 120, Billy Ray Goff found himself in another situation where his corner’s decision came under the microscope after he took a beating from Ty Miller over the opening two rounds.
Miller eventually landed a huge shot in the third that sent Goff stumbling backward into the cage before he crashed to the canvas, forcing the referee to jump in and stop the fight.
UFC broadcaster Daniel Cormier immediately questioned why Goff had even been sent out for the third round in the first place. And to be fair, his point was pretty simple: if the game plan going into the final round is basically telling your fighter to avoid fighting altogether, maybe that’s a sign the fight shouldn’t be continuing.
“You could see his orbital bone is broken—look at his eye,” Cormier said on the broadcast. “Look at his right eye. And then when he got hit on the right eye, he went down. The coach told him, ‘Don’t engage, just circle and essentially run.’ Why not just stop the fight?
“The writing was on the wall, especially if that’s the advice you’re giving your guy going into the third round.”
Miller himself admitted he wasn’t even sure Goff would make it back to his feet for the third round.
“I didn’t think he was going to get off the stool, to be honest,” Miller told Cormier after the fight. “I hit him with some hard shots. But I told myself, ‘Don’t do that; don’t think like that.’”
And that pretty much sums up why corners have such a huge responsibility in combat sports. Fighters can be stubborn. Adrenaline can take over. And when there’s a win on the line, the urge to keep fighting can easily drown out common sense.
That’s why the Bygraves situation is especially uncomfortable for BKFC. Bare-knuckle fighting already has to deal with plenty of questions about fighter safety.
There already are no big gloves soaking up some of that damage like you’d see in traditional MMA or boxing. Every punch lands a little differently, and fighters are left dealing with a completely different kind of punishment once they step into the ring.
Bare-knuckle fighting also spent decades operating largely underground before the modern version of the sport started picking up state-by-state approval. Head honcho David Feldman played a major role in pushing it into the regulated sports world, starting with Wyoming’s approval in 2018 before expanding into more states.
After all, the sport has always had a brutal side. Just look back at the infamous 75-round war between John L. Sullivan and Jake Kilrain, fought in extreme heat and pushed both men to their absolute limits.
Modern bare-knuckle fighting is obviously a long way from those days, but the Mac Bygraves incident is a reminder that fighter safety still has to be front and center. For a sport that is still working to establish itself as a legitimate, regulated combat sport, BKFC can’t afford to brush situations like this aside.