Conor McGregor return excites BKFC contender but comes with tempered expectations

Conor McGregor is weeks away from fighting in the confines of a cage once again and a surging BKFC contender, who has been a long time fan, has covered multiple tendrils attached to the targeted UFC 329 return of the Irish superstar. Nathan Rivera is the referenced bare knuckle boxer here and Rivera clashes with Tray Martin at BKFC Nashville on June 19th in the co-main event.

Before Friday’s fight, the ranked featherweight contender touched on multiple topics including a sentiment from a former opponent of BKFC juggernaut Mike Perry’s and Conor McGregor’s in Eddie Alvarez. When discussing the looming UFC return of BKFC figure head Conor McGregor, Alvarez spoke about how if McGregor were to win that Max Holloway rematch coming up, it would be tantamount to one of the biggest upsets in combat sports history because of all the variables with the half decade return timeline, the prior injury, caliber of opponent, etc.

When asked for his thoughts on the general return of McGregor on July 11th and that grandiose sentiment from Alvarez, Nathan Rivera said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],

“Man, I think I heard somebody say the other day like I’m not going to believe it until the cage door closes behind him [laughs] and I was like I could see that. I think that like man, love him or hate him, I mean the guy has, I think he kind of helped like save the UFC, right. Like when he came into MMA, it was like, “Holy crap, this is like we’re watching the Conor McGregor fight.” You know what I mean? Like, it was just so; I remember when Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo, like I was like 15, maybe.”

Conor McGregor’s return will “do numbers” but “the fan inside” Nathan Rivera wants McGregor in BKFC

Further delving into his recollections of Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo from UFC 194, Rivera continued [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],

“I was just like, “What just happened?” Jose Aldo was like my favorite fighter growing up. As I remember when I was young, I looked up MMA and I saw Jose Aldo kicking Urijah Faber’s legs off. I was like, “This is so cool.” So, like seeing that rise, I have buddies that are into MMA now and they like weren’t into it back then and I was like, dude, it was a different time, man. So, like to see him back, I think it’s super cool.”

“I think either way it goes, I mean, it’s probably going to do numbers for the fans. I’m excited to see what happens. I think he has what, two fights left in his contract for the UFC? So, this one and maybe another one. Then, who knows? I mean, I know he said he wanted to fight in bare knuckle and just seeing something like that would be insane, as a fan. The fan inside of me would love that.”