“I think it’s just going to move the needle tremendously… We’re going to do a lot of big things. We’re going to open up a lot of new markets.” That’s what the founder of the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, David Feldman, had to say about Conor McGregor becoming a stakeholder at the fight promotion. And that’s exactly what happened. BKFC got a major boost in viewership after McGregor got into the fight business. For starters, the Irishman’s involvement got over 2 billion impressions on social media. And now, fighters have started getting some lucrative sponsorships. 

‘The Notorious’ brought in a sponsor for one of his fighters from a $159 billion revenue market. And if you guessed it already, yes, it’s a sponsorship from an energy drink company. Taking to his Instagram, McGregor shared a story, announcing, “BKFC sponsor alert! @hypeenergydrinks!!” And the fighter signing the deal was none other than the undefeated bare-knuckle boxer, Dan Chapman. 

In the Instagram post, Chapman posed with the papers with Hype Energy’s poster in the background. In the caption, he wrote, “I’m proud to officially announce that I’m now a full-time Hype athlete! I’m incredibly grateful for opportunities like this—to work alongside a brand I truly love and believe in. The Hype team consistently goes above and beyond in their mission to improve, and their commitment to excellence shows in everything they do. They treat me like a performance car—tuning and refining with the highest quality supplements so I can operate at my absolute best. Thank you to the entire Hype family for welcoming me in. Stay tuned… we’ve got some big things coming.”

Needless to say, the former UFC double champion was proud of this achievement. Taking to the comments section of Chapman’s IG post, ‘The Notorious’ wrote, “Big congrats Dan and Hype Energy!” Of course, we can safely assume that McGregor had a role in getting Chapman the sponsorship considering how much spotlight he’s been getting BLFC’s athletes. But the major factor responsible for this achievement was the UK fighter’s undefeated streak with 6 fights and 5 KO/TKO wins. 

Conor McGregor has indeed brought out the best in BKFC with his involvement. He announces fights, hypes the air around them, and promotes the events and fighters in ways that Feldman never could. But what exactly does the BKFC boss think of that? Let’s find out!

David Feldman is all too happy to have Conor McGregor as a BKFC stakeholder

During a conversation with Ariel Helwani in 2024, Feldman weighed in on McGregor disclosing the fights instead of him. He said, “I’m going to let him disclose what he wants to disclose about that. I’m going to tell you that he has needle-moving equity. He has substantial equity in the company. He has enough equity to really make a big play here, and I think he’s going to. He’s going to have a say. He’s going to have opinions and say and ideas, and we look forward to it all.”

Feldman grew the bare-knuckle fight promotion from scratch. He brought in fighters and tried to create hype as much as he could. But with McGregor’s entry into the picture, things became even more exciting. And that’s something that the fighting community wanted. He continued, “Blood, sweat, and tears, you don’t know what I had to do to get this thing to this point and I love talking about the company and being the guy there. I love it. But they don’t want to see me if they have a choice between me or Conor McGregor. So Conor McGregor all day long. The ones he can make that appearance to, would absolutely love him to do it, and he’s going to. He loves the sport because it’s as real as it gets.”

But do you know how exactly ‘Mystic Mac’ helped in the growth of BKFC? Take KnuckleMania V, for example. The event witnessed an attendance of 17,762 fans. This was indeed a record-breaking attendance for any boxing event in Philadelphia. Callouts crossed the sports barriers as Josh Dyer expressed his desire to slap Dwayne Johnson. McGregor has, without a doubt, boosted the popularity of BKFC. 

What are your thoughts on McGregor’s influence on BKFC’s success? Do you think he can garner more lucrative sponsorships for his fighters? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.