Conor McGregor made a slew of blockbuster announcements as part of the BKFC’s Champions’ Summit in Hollywood, Florida, on Thursday, including the signing of former UFC and Bellator title challenger Yoel Romero.
After competing under the UFC banner for seven years, ‘Soldier of God’ walked away from the promotion following a middleweight title loss against Israel Adesanya in March 2020. Romero went on to compete in Bellator, eventually challenging Vadim Nemkov for the light heavyweight championship. Overall, he went 3-2, with his final promotional appearance coming at the PFL vs. Bellator event in February 2024, where he defeated Thiago Santos.
Romero’s last two combat sports appearances came for Mike Perry’s Dirty Boxing Championship, where he landed back-to-back KOs against Duane Crespo and Ras Hylton.
Interestingly, Thiago Santos was also announced as a new BKFC signee during Thursday’s press event. And that wasn’t all.
Also signing on the dotted line to toe the line later this year was former UFC standout Aspen Ladd. After a middling 4-3 run inside the Octagon, Ladd signed with the Professional Fighters League, going 3-2, with one of those losses coming against newly minted UFC bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison.
Joining Romero, Santos, and Ladd is Derek Brunson. After more than 20 fights in the UFC, Brunson ended his 11-year-long run with the promotion in 2023. He made a brief pit stop in the PFL, defeating Ray Cooper III in November 2023 before cutting his time with the promotion short.
Since then, Brunson has only competed once, earning a first-round submission victory over Rodolfo Vieira at ADXC 7 late last year.
Conor McGregor and BKFC to host $25,000,000 open-weight tournament in 2026
In addition to the four signings, McGregor revealed that the promotion will host a $25 million open-weight tournament in 2026.
“I’m going to announce the most lucrative tournament in all of combat sports,” McGregor said. Open weight, the baddest man on the planet… The world’s baddest $25,000,000 tournament begins in March 2026. The weight divisions will be somewhat open-weight. We’ll start from the biggest and baddest in bare knuckle, 265 lbs, right down to 185.
“These men in this division will contest against each other for the $25,000,000 prize and to see who really is the baddest man on the planet. Let’s go.”
BKFC founder Feldman later clarified that the open-weight tourney will begin in March 2026 in Los Angeles and then end a year later in the Middle East in March 2027. The top prize is $15 million, with second place getting $1 million, third and fourth place getting $500K each.
Feldman also announced a four-man lightweight tournament featuring Ben Bonner vs. Franco Tenaglia for the interim title and Austin Trout vs. Luis Palomino, with the winners squaring off against each other.
