Shaquille O’Neal’s Presence Made Former Conor McGregor Opponent Eddie Alvarez Take Up Bare-Knuckle Fight

The UFC veterans, Eddie Alvarez and Luke Rockhold, finally turned their tracks towards fighting without gloves. Although previously Dave Feldman, the founder of BKFC, eyed Nate Diaz and Alvarez, he confirmed the induction of Alvarez and Rockhold in an interview with Ariel Helwani. Moreover, ‘The Silent Assassin’ himself confirmed that he went to BKFC in the latest episode of ‘The MMA Hour’. 

As the conversation began, the first question that Helwani fired at the former UFC lightweight champion was why he chose to side with BKFC. ‘The Underground King’ revealed that it was a local event in Florida that made him want to fight with bare knuckles. Furthermore, he disclosed the happenings at the event that made him move to Feldman’s fight promotion. 

Eddie Alvarez talks about why he moved to BKFC

Feldman previously declared that Alvarez and Rockhold were set to land in bare-knuckle fighting and even stated that their debut was scheduled for the 29th of August. ‘The Silent Assassin’ appeared in the recent episode of ‘The MMA Hour’. Without a moment’s delay, the famed MMA reporter shot questions about why Alvarez chose to go for bare-knuckle fighting. 

The 39-year-old revealed that it was a local event that intrigued him to join Feldman. He said, “I got to go to a local event. I got to go to like an event in Miami, not long ago. Not Miami, I mean Hollywood, Florida, in about a couple months back. And after, after going to that event, my mind was pretty much made up.”

Furthermore, he declared that it was only a matter of finding the right opponent to make the debut. 

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Helwani then asked about what exactly happened at the event which made Alvarez decide he wanted to be in BKFC. “Shaq [Shaquille O’Neal] was there”, Alvarez quickly replied.

He continued, “The fight itself. Every fight was figured out in about three minutes. And it reminded me like when I first started like I never got an MMA fight. I got a lot of street fights when I was younger.” Undeniably, bare-knuckle fights get over quicker than the fights in the UFC. The former opponent of Conor McGregor disclosed that it was nostalgia and the fast pace of the fights that attracted him to BKFC.

Dave Feldman eyed Nate Diaz

Various promotions usually approach popular free agents in the world of combat sports. Such was the case with Diaz. The BKFC president made it public that he wanted the ‘Stockton Slugger’ in his promotion. However, he didn’t back off from revealing that he might have a few other invitations in wait. 

Feldman said, “It’s just a matter now of does he want to fight bare knuckle. That’s all it really is. I’m confident he can make more money with us than he can anywhere else, even fighting Jake Paul.” He declared that although it was a tough choice for Diaz, the money was on the table for him.

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What are your thoughts about bare-knuckle boxing? Let us know in the comments down below.