Eddie Alvarez reacts to Conor McGregor’s surprise cornering advice during BKFC 41

When Conor McGregor shows up to a combat sports event, he doesn’t just sit quietly in the crowd — he makes his superstar presence known.

At Bellator 187, he jumped right into the cage to celebrate the technical knockout victory of his friend and teammate, Charlie Ward ... and then shoved the referee for good measure, almost sparking a brawl. There was no such bad behavior at BKFC 41 last night (Sat., April 29, 2023), but “The Notorious” did end up in the squared circle following Mike Perry’s win over Luke Rockhold for a friendly face off.

He also provided some unsolicited cornering advice from ringside during the co-main event between Eddie Alvarez vs. Chad Mendez. McGregor was shouting at both men throughout the bout, but the most notable moment was when he called for Alvarez to throw an uppercut, which “The Underground King” did to great effect. Alvarez then pointed to McGregor in the crowd, acknowledging the support.

Alvarez went onto defeat Mendes via split decision (watch highlights here).

It was an interesting moment, especially considering their history. McGregor was the man who took UFC’s Lightweight title off Alvarez in Nov. 2016, earning the Irish sports star the distinction of being the first simultaneous “double champion” in the promotion’s history.

“I thought he was yelling for me, and I did something and I said, ‘Good job!’ to him,” Alvarez said in an interview with Helen Yee. “But, I heard he was telling [Mendes] stuff, so I think he was playing both sides during the fight.”

As for Alvarez’s future plans now that he’s 1-0 in bareknuckle boxing, he sounded excited for another fight.

“I’m positive we’re probably going to do a few, one or two more for sure,” he said about continuing to compete with BKFC. “I think there’s some big fights to be made here, and I’m going to take advantage of that and we’re going to make a big fight, probably our next fight. I need a little bit of rest for these hands, but we’ll make a big fight and hopefully we do that at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.”

“Conor would be the ... I’d love to get that one back,” he said regarding future opponents. “Conor, I s— the bed in Madison Square Garden, that’s something I’d like to get back. And Cowboy [Donald Cerrone] was in attendance, that’s another one I lost, so I got some Ls in that crowd, I’d like to get them back.

“I think the biggest fight right now, I’ll be honest with you, is Mike Perry,” he continued. “I thought originally I was supposed to fight Mike Perry when I came here to BKFC and he ended up fighting Luke Rockhold. I think that’s the largest, biggest fight you can make in BKFC right now. Me and him at a big center, maybe in Philadelphia or something.”

McGregor is firmly signed with UFC at this time, and Cerrone is likely still under contract with them as well. A fight with Perry is right there, though ... but first BKFC will have to sign “Platinum” to a new deal. The charismatic brawler revealed that his win over Rockhold was the last fight on his current contract.

After a 3-0 run in BKFC and a face off with McGregor, Perry is certainly moving into a new pay bracket wherever he ends up.

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