David Feldman reveals insane illegal stream numbers for Conor McGregor-starrer BKFC 41
BKFC president David Feldman has revealed the incredible number of illegal streams for the BKFC 41 event, which featured UFC megastar Conor McGregor in attendance.
The bare-knuckle boxing event transpired at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado, USA, on April 29th, 2023. In addition to several other exciting matchups, its headlining fight witnessed Mike Perry defeat fellow former UFC star Luke Rockhold via second-round TKO.
Following that, Perry and McGregor faced off inside the ring. 'The Notorious' notably had a BKFC title on his shoulder during the face-off and implied that he'd be open to fighting Perry in a bare-knuckle boxing match under the BKFC banner.
Speaking to Jimmy Smith on Sirius XM's Unlocking the Cage podcast, David Feldman has now explained that "perception was everything" for the event. He added that they surpassed all expectations with the event's success.
Feldman noted that the primary goal of BKFC 41 was attracting the maximum number of viewers rather than simply going for maximum monetization with high pay-per-views buys.
He suggested that this is why he wasn't really annoyed with the illegal streams adversely affecting pay-per-view buys. Feldman stated:
"We anticipated to do more pay-per-views than we did. We still did good. We did six figures in pay-per-views; a little north of six figures. It was very, very good for us. We projected to do almost double that, though. Actually, I just got a report in today that says that they found 734,000 illegal streams from that event. 734,000! So, I'm not even p**sed off."
"That's seven hundred and forty -- whatever thousand people -- that watched this event on top of the people that bought it. We had north of a million people in the United States watch this event, live. Unbelievable for us, right?"
Watch Feldman discuss the topic in the video below:
"Perception was everything for that event."
@bareknucklefc President David Feldman discusses the PPV numbers for #BKFC41: Perry vs Rockhold.
Source: Unlocking The Cage | @jimmysmithmma https://t.co/fbIG4iYRm1
Conor McGregor on potential venture into bare-knuckle fighting after BKFC appearance
Be it David Feldman or UFC president Dana White, most combat sports personalities are seemingly of the view that Conor McGregor is unlikely to compete in bare-knuckle boxing anytime soon. McGregor still has two fights left on his UFC contract and is expected to face Michael Chandler in the UFC later this year.
In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani for Matchroom Boxing, Conor McGregor addressed his BKFC 41 appearance. The MMA legend believes boxing and MMA could have a few boring fights. Regardless, he opined that the bare-knuckle element in bare-knuckle fighting ensures that every fight is exciting.
He cited the example that even a bare-knuckle jab could slice a fighter's skin, cause panic in the ring, and thrill the crowd. Hinting that he'd love to try his hand in the bare-knuckle boxing realm, McGregor said:
"I would do it, yes I would! In a heartbeat I'll do it. Yes I would do it for sure. It's hard to get a boring fight...It's actually almost impossible for a boring fight to happen in it." [14:02 - 14:15]
Watch McGregor's assessment below: