The Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) is back again with yet another mega event. This time Leonardo ‘El Zambo’ Perdomo will fight Levi ‘Pitbull’ Costa on the 21st of December, 2024. Needless to say, the fighting world has been anticipating the bout on Saturday, but things got a bit more interesting when Conor McGregor joined the discussions about the fight. Well, being a part owner of the bare-knuckle fighting promotion, the Irishman certainly needs to promote the fights. But ‘El Zambo’ had ‘Mystic Mac’ in total awe. 

Two days before the sensational BKFC event, the Cuban bare-knuckle fighter appeared in an interview with Shea Filling. The video of this interview was released on Instagram, where Filling could be heard saying, “I think I found the next sensation for the world of bare-knuckle fighting.” And it was true! The reason for the hype? It all lay in Perdomo’s record. 

‘Mystic Mac’ shared the interview on his Instagram stories. But it was the Cuban fighter’s record that impressed the former UFC double champion. In the caption of the IG story, McGregor wrote, “This is a bad motherf—er for real. 5-0 BKFC. All of which are knockouts. And all of them inside the 1st minute. Back in this Saturday on DAZN.” This wasn’t the first time ‘The Notorious’ stood in support of ‘El Zambo’. When the boxer shared the interview on his IG page, McGregor left a comment that read, “EL ZAAAMBOOOO!!!”, followed by as emojis of the Cuban national flag, and hands held high. 

Perdomo has been on the rise since June 2023, owing to his undefeated record and all finishes, and with McGregor’s hype of him, his fight against Costa is only bound to draw more eyes to the event. The fighting community has dubbed him the ‘Mike Tyson of Bare-Knuckle’, but the Cuban sensation’s performance on Saturday will determine if he’s really worthy of the title. No doubt, McGregor’s involvement in the fight promotion further boosted the fighter’s popularity. 

How has Conor McGregor influenced BKFC?

During a recent episode of Bare Knuckle Bowker, Jared Warren revealed his take on BKFC on DAZN 3. However, he couldn’t steer away from talking about the role McGregor played in lifting the hype around the fight promotion. As one of the first fighters in the bare-knuckle fight business, ‘Captain Deadpool’ has witnessed the rise of the promotion since 2019, but the superstar Irish mixed martial artist has taken things to the next level by becoming a part-owner.

Warren said, “I think getting Conor McGregor on board was awesome. You know, there’s not a lot of people who [don’t] know who he is. People have different opinions about him but at the end of the day, man, everything that the guy touches turns to gold. So why would you not want him on your team? So yeah, man. It’s pretty cool.” It was indeed McGregor’s star factor that played a major role in the success of BKFC’s stint at Marbella, Spain. Now, BKFC has plans to step into Dubai in April 2025. Of course, ‘Mystic Mac’ shared the details about it all on his social media page. 

But for now, let’s keep the spotlight on Perdomo vs. Costa. Do you think ‘El Zambo’ will extend his undefeated streak, as well as finish via KO to six, on Saturday? Let us know what you think of the matchup, and McGregor hyping it up, in the comments section below.