BKFC champion Austin Trout defends his title on Saturday at the promotion’s debut card in Marbella, Spain and it’s Conor McGregor who deserves credit for it.

Over the past few months, McGregor has been heavily promoting BKFC after becoming a part owner in the bare-knuckle outfit but his investment wasn’t just a way to grab a few headlines. Instead, McGregor has been present for many recent BKFC events with company founder and president David Feldman praising the Irish superstar for his constant involvement on the business side of things.

In fact, Trout says it was McGregor who orchestrated almost every aspect of the upcoming card in Spain, which also serves as the first BKFC event with DAZN after inking a new broadcast deal recently.

“This Marbella fight in Spain was his idea,” Trout told MMA Fighting. “He really took reins. He got the venue. He’s putting in work. He’s promoting the hell out of it. I don’t think he’s really left Spain but to promote other bare-knuckle fights. He’s made a home out there in Spain himself right now.

“It’s really exciting to have Conor behind [BKFC]. I mean he’s really backing it. He’s putting in work.”

Since his investment in BKFC was announced in April, McGregor has constantly touted the promotion on his various social media accounts where he has over 60 million followers combined.

Trout has seen it firsthand that McGregor is truly doing everything possible to make BKFC a bigger brand and his ownership stake actually means something to him.

“A publicist said you couldn’t pay for this type of publicity from him,” Trout said. “You couldn’t write a check for this type of publicity that he’s giving us. Even when he’s firing Mike Perry, shit like that means he’s very emotionally involved.

“Shout out to Conor. He’s about to blow this shit up and it’s a good time to be a champion. It’s a good time to stay a champion.”

While his primary focus on BKFC thus far has been serving as a promoter and co-owner, McGregor has openly stated that he eventually wants to cross over and compete in a bare-knuckle fight as well.

McGregor currently only has two bouts remaining on his current UFC contract and unless he reaches an extension, it’s possible he could fight for BKFC once that deal comes to an end.

Of course if that happens, McGregor could probably pick any opponent he wanted for his bare-knuckle debut but Trout believes he would be the perfect candidate because he’s not only a BKFC champion but he built his name through a very successful boxing career where he battled names like Miguel Cotto, Canelo Alvarez as well as Jermall and Jermell Charlo.

“It’s one of the bigger fights in BKFC,” Trout said about potentially fighting McGregor. “I would gladly oblige. I’m your huckleberry, for sure.”

There’s no telling when or if McGregor might actually make that move but based on the current roster at BKFC, Trout feels like he would present biggest challenge along with a name to help push the event.

Of course as much as he would gladly welcome the chance to trade punches with McGregor in bare-knuckle, Trout warns him that he might not like the result.

“Bare-knuckle, me and Conor, he ain’t got no chance with me,” Trout said. “I ain’t even going humble myself on that one. But I would love for him to try. It would be good.

“I can’t see another [name]. Unless he wants to just buy a win, that’s another thing. There’s plenty of names for that. But for a fight that’s worthy of Conor, Austin Trout is it.”

Jorge Masvidal is looking to make his UFC comeback in the first quarter of 2025.

Masvidal (35-17 MMA, 12-10 UFC) retired from MMA at UFC 287 in April 2023 after suffering his fourth consecutive loss to Gilbert Burns. He was granted permission while under contract with the UFC to box Nate Diaz in July, but lost the bout by majority decision.

It didn’t take long for “Gamebred” to get the itch to compete in MMA again, and hopes to return early next year.

“Next year in March, I’m there,” Masvidal said on Bo Nickal’s YouTube channel. “If they go to Miami, I’m going to f*ck somebody up in Miami.”

Despite Masvidal’s enthusiasm, UFC CEO Dana White said “probably not” when recently asked about the possibility of having both Tyron Woodley and Masvidal back to the UFC.

Masvidal, 39, capitalized on his time off since retiring from MMA to rest his body. He may have been prepping for a boxing match, but he wasn’t putting his body through strenuous sparring sessions, as well as grappling and jiu-jitsu.

“There’s nothing more f*cking demanding in this world, sport-wise, than MMA,” Masvidal said. “Because when you add in the wrestling, mixed with the f*cking knees to your nose, mixed with people trying to choke you out, and then the strength and conditioning we’ve got to do to keep it up, to be able to stay healthy. In a way, time away from MMA is like getting healthy (laughs).”

Bo Nickal reiterates he is in no rush to climb to the top.

Nickal (6-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) faces his most notable name to date when he takes on Paul Craig (17-8-1 MMA, 9-8-1 UFC) in a middleweight bout at UFC 309 Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden.

Although Nickal is a highly touted prospect, he isn’t looking to be fast tracked. He has an idea of how his path to the UFC title will look like.

“This is a good step up with Paul Craig,” Nickal said on his YouTube channel. “So, take care of business and then I want to (fight) two more guys that are unranked. Then fight a ranked guy.

“So at that point, I’ll be 7-0, 8-0, 9-0, fight a ranked guy, 10-0. 11-0, probably fight a top-five guy, and then fight for the belt around 12-0. That’s what I’m planning on right now. We’ll see, but definitely zoom focused on this next fight.”

If he can get through Craig, Nickal hopes to draw bigger names moving forward.

“I’m just going to smash this guy, and then I want to get exciting fights now,” Nickal said. “I feel like I’ve fought enough guys that have kind of not really been very dangerous to me. I haven’t even been hit really in a real fight yet.

“So I want to start fighting better guys for sure. Once I get a ranked fight, I think I’m only going to have to fight two or three before the belt. At that point, it’s like straight to it.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.

After securing the title with a thumping win over their nearest rivals on the pitch, Cliftonville lifted the trophy at the home of their neighbours.

Crusaders gave a guard of honour as Kelsie Burrows led Cliftonville out at Seaview, and, despite the celebrations that followed the win over Glentoran, they did not look like a team with a hangover on the pitch.

They dominated the majority of possession in the early stages, and Marissa Callaghan clipped the top of the crossbar with a long-range effort.

The Northern Ireland midfielder then hammered the crossbar with a header from Toni-Leigh Finnegan’s cross.

The pressure continued to build as Fi Morgan, Caitlin McGuinness and Carla Devine all saw chances slip away.

Callaghan was denied the opener by the offside flag as she chipped the ball into the bottom corner, and Devine fired over late in the half as the teams went in level.

After Callaghan poked an effort wide after the restart, the deserved winner came in the 52nd minute when Maxwell’s cross drifted into the bottom corner to give the visitors a lead they would not relinquish.

Finnegan fired over as the Reds looked for a second, and substitute Kirsty McGuinness saw an effort parried away by Harvey-Clifford.

The Crues had a huge chance to level the game with 20 minutes to play when Rebecca Mann raced through on goal but the substitute hooked her effort wide.

McGuinness forced Harvey-Clifford into a superb diving save, and further chances fell to Caitlin McGuinness, who hit over from Katie Markey’s cross, and Maxwell, who fired narrowly wide.

The game fizzled out in the closing stages, with the Reds perhaps having one eye on Saturday’s cup final but when the final whistle blew, the Cliftonville bench ran onto the pitch to celebrate with their team-mates.

Darren Till certainly knows how to pick his social media targets.

Undefeated UFC middleweight Bo Nickal is the latest fighter to draw Till’s ire, with the former welterweight contender taking a shot at Nickal on Thursday.

In post on Twitter responding to Nickal outlining his future plans on his YouTube channel, Till wrote, “The ginger ninja doesn’t even fight. Talks more than me and I talk a lot.”

The timing of Till’s comments are somewhat strange given that Nickal is set for his second appearance of 2024 when he fights Paul Craig at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. A three-time NCAA Division-I wrestling champion who made his pro MMA debut in 2022, Nickal has so far lived up to his enormous hype, going 6-0 and finishing all but one of his opponents in the first round.

However, Till isn’t impressed with the quality of competition nor does he feel that Nickal passes the eye test.

“He even shit talks me and hasn’t beat an opponent who’s record is a winning one,” Till wrote.

There is some truth to Till’s statement. All of Nickal’s UFC opponents came into the cage with winning pro records, but none of them were over the .500 mark inside the octagon.

Even when Till went on to compliment Nickal, he made sure to throw in a few nasty digs.

“Yes, his wrestling is good but his striking is appalling and his cooking videos make me want to stab myself to death,” Till wrote.

It’s unclear what Till’s angle is here as he is not currently competing in MMA. Till previously fought for the UFC welterweight title against Tyron Woodley at UFC 228, where he was submitted by Woodley in Round 2. He parted ways with the UFC in February 2023.

Currently, Till is dabbling in the world of boxing. He made a successful debut this past July with a controversial win over Mohammad Mutie, and was supposed to fight veteran Julio César Chávez Jr. on July 20 on the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson card, but that event was postponed to Nov. 15. Till’s bout was not re-booked.

Check out Nickal’s podcast below.

UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier dismisses PFL and other organizations when it comes to their ability to build stars.

A former two-division UFC champion, Cormier believes the octagon is the only stage where a fighter can reach superstardom. The likes of Ben Askren, Michael Chandler, Michael Page, and most recently Kayla Harrison were able to catapult their popularity to the next level after signing with the UFC.

“The NBA does not exist without the best players in the world,” Cormier said on his “Funky and the Champ” show with Ben Askren. “There are 100 leagues around the world, but they never can hold a candle to what the NBA is, so the best come and play here. There’s one place to fight, one place, because guess what? There’s only one place that honestly – not even trying to be a UFC guy, there’s one where you reach superstardom.

“There’s one place where you fight the best in the world, where you maximize your visibility and earnings inside the octagon and outside the octagon. It’s the UFC. Every other organization tries and then eventually it starts to falter. I don’t understand why. The only one who has found success is Scott Coker. He’s the only guy who has found sustained success outside the UFC.”

Harrison is 2-0 in the UFC since parting ways with PFL. Founder Donn Davis accused Harrison of running away from big fights with Cris Cyborg and Larissa Pacheco, and Cormier thinks it’s an attempt from the PFL to use the UFC to promote their own fighters.

“Every year the gap widens, and not even a little bit. It widens by double,” Cormier said. “Every time the PFL uses that Kayla Harrison loss to promote someone on another card, that just tells you that they’re just throwing sh*t at the wall, hoping something sticks.”