The BKFC has given Conor McGregor what the UFC could not: an ownership stake. The Irishman, at the height of his popularity and combat prowess, won the UFC lightweight title at UFC 205 in 2016 to become the first two-division concurrent champion in the promotion’s history.

Already the biggest star in MMA history, McGregor felt he deserved more than what the UFC was paying him. He wanted equity in the world’s most profitable MMA promotion. But UFC CEO Dana White, ever the astute businessman, had no truck with it and shut his demands down. Popular YouTuber Brian Shaw, who goes by True Geordie online, thinks this may be part of McGregor’s plan to go to the BKFC and pull a UFC there.

Conor McGregor may move to BKFC after his UFC contract is up

Conor McGregor has become a minority owner in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC), which was announced at Knucklemania 4 last week. BKFC President David Feldman had even met Dana White before the move, which some feel was to get the UFC boss’s approval before McGregor was officially made a stakeholder in the promotion.

However, True Geordie thinks the UFC and Dana White are not happy with this move. He pointed to the purportedly lackluster manner in which White announced the return of its biggest superstar at the UFC 300 post-fight press conference as indicative of this.

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“It does make me wonder if this [McGregor becoming part-owner of BKFC] is why the UFC, when they announced McGregor’s return [at UFC 303 against Michael Chandler on June 29]… didn’t make a big deal about it… I thought that that was because Connor was going to potentially leave and go and fight Manny Pacquiao,” he said.

While his initial reaction to this purported lack of enthusiasm was the UFC fearing ‘Notorious’ might want to leave the promotion and box Manny Pacquiao, which ‘Mac’ had spoken about repeatedly last year, the BKFC move made him change his mind.

“But maybe that’s not the plan here because… if he can build BKFC into something that one day the UFC want to buy or one big company wants to buy, he will make so much more money… So when he’s wanting to get resigned, the number he’s going to quote them it’s not actually going to make dollar sense for them,” he added.

With McGregor’s keen sense for business and making money, Geordie speculated that the Dubliner may be looking to leave the promotion after the two remaining fights on his contract and join the BKFC. Given that the Irishman’s career seems to be on its last legs, the YouTuber speculated that McGregor may demand unreasonable amounts of money for him to re-sign. He felt that the UFC would be unwilling to pay him that much, which would clear the field for McGregor’s eventual move to the UFC.

“It’s a really difficult situation to be in if you’re the UFC right now. And Conor now has the option to go and fight in his own organization and not just make money there but grow them for the long term,” Geordie said.

This, Geordie felt, was the best move for McGregor financially. This is because, given his star power and popularity, his entry into the fledgling bare-knuckle promotion would boost its profile (and, more importantly, its value). In addition, McGregor can do there what he did at the UFC, i.e., build it up and make it more popular. Until then, either the UFC or some other company buys the BKFC and makes McGregor and the other owners significant amounts of money. And the YouTuber had the perfect fight for McGregor if he chose to move to the BKFC.

True Geordie has the perfect match-up for ‘Mystic Mac’ at BKFC

Over his decade-long stint at the UFC, Conor McGregor’s greatest and most entertaining rivalry was with former UFC superstar Nate Diaz. Diaz, of course, shocked the world and handed ‘Notorious’ his first UFC loss in a shocking turn of events at their UFC 194 clash in 2016. The two met in the octagon again five months later at UFC 196. Since the score is officially 1-1 between the two, there have long been demands for the two to face each other again.

And True Geordie has the perfect venue for the fight—the BKFC. Diaz is a free agent at the moment and is gearing up to conclude his unfinished business with Jorge Masvidal. Before this, he fought Jake Paul in a boxing match last year, too. This means Diaz would most likely agree to face McGregor at the BKFC if an offer is made. And the YouTuber thinks this would be the perfect fight to give a boost to the BKFC and increase its valuation.

“And if there’s one fight that’s screaming out to be made it’s the trilogy it’s Conor McGregor versus Nate Diaz not in the UFC but this time at the BKFC,” he said. What are your thoughts on True Geordie’s theory?