Conor McGregor doesn’t expect Eddie Alvarez vs. Jeremy Stephens to last long at Bare Knuckle FC’s KnuckleMania 5.
UFC superstar Conor McGregor has a history with both Eddie Alvarez and Jeremy Stephens ahead of their highly-anticipated clash at BKFC KnuckleMania 5. While his past relationships with both fighting veterans were strained, he’s turned the page ahead of their BKFC fight and expects a slugfest in the upcoming main event.
Alvarez vs. Stephens headlines a stacked card at BKFC KnuckleMania 5 on Saturday in Philadelphia. The card features top bare-knuckle names like Ben Rothwell and Bec Rawlings to go along with what will likely be a bloody battle in the event’s headliner.
Alvarez and Stephens have proven to rarely be in boring fights. The two former UFC fan favorites treated us to some of the wildest clashes in the promotion’s history, and rarely went the full three or five-round distance against their opponents.
McGregor is expecting those patterns to continue when Alvarez and Stephens fight bare-knuckle in the BKFC ring.
Conor McGregor predicts Eddie Alvarez vs. Jeremy Stephens
In a recent interview with the BKFC broadcast team, McGregor gave his prediction for Alvarez vs. Stephens.
“Eddie Alvarez, make no mistake, is a Philadelphia hero,” McGregor said of his UFC 205 rival. “I’m excited to see him in his homecoming against a tough, volatile fighter, it’s going to be one hell of a show.
“Eddie gets the stoppage. Eddie stoppage.”
McGregor became the UFC’s first simultaneous two-division world champion by knocking out Alvarez at UFC 205 to earn the lightweight championship. While McGregor and Stephens never fought in their UFC tenures, they were two of the top featherweight contenders during their primes, and Stephens was the unfortunate target of one of McGregor’s iconic press conference barbs.
In addition to his part ownership in BKFC, McGregor has teased a potential bare-knuckle debut to go along with his targeted UFC return. He hasn’t fought in MMA since injuring his leg against Dustin Poirier in their UFC 264 trilogy bout.
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Conor McGregor sides with UFC 205 rival in BKFC KnuckleMania 5 main event
Despite their past bad blood, McGregor coached up Alvarez for his BKFC fight against Chad Mendes while ringside in a viral moment. Stephens returns to the BKFC ring after a ‘Performance of the Night’ showing against Bobby Taylor in September.
McGregor’s addition to the BKFC brass has already paid massive dividends for the future of bare-knuckle fighting. A few years after it was initially predicted that BKFC would flop, the promotion is now arguably the second most popular combat sports promotion outside of the UFC.
If this is Alvarez’s final fight of his illustrious career, McGregor expects Alvarez to put on a show in his finale. Their relationship has come full circle since UFC 205 and McGregor believes Alvarez will stop Stephens in one of the biggest fights in BKFC history.
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