Former WWE owner Vince McMahon, who served as the chairman of the promotion for over 40 years, has been dealing with some legal trouble. But amid those controversies, the 79-year-old businessman is reportedly trying to get back into the promoting game, and recent reports suggest that it’s not professional wrestling. Instead, McMahon appears to have eyes on Conor McGregor‘s promotion, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.
The $411 million worth BKFC is growing with every passing year, and the addition of Conor McGregor, who became a part-owner of the promotion in 2024, has brought in even more eyes. But it appears that McGregor is not the only high-profile personality to have approached the promotion’s president, David Feldman. It appears that Vince McMahon had approached Feldman, but although they had a great conversation, the timing was ultimately the factor that could make McMahon’s plans come to fruition.
“He’s a great guy, his whole team is great, but the timing wasn’t right for us,” said David Feldman, as reported by ‘Undisputed’. “He’s Vince McMahon–if I were him, I’d want creative control, too. He was awesome, very complimentary, and he was very serious to do business.”
Well, last year in October, it was already reported that Vince McMahon was working to establish a new ‘entertainment hub company’ after his unceremonious WWE exit. However, nobody expected him to set his eyes away from the professional wrestling scene and come into the real combat sports world.
But then again, this is nothing new because the ex-WWE owner is not the first McMahon who expressed a wish to get into the world of non-scripted action. In case you weren’t aware of it, Vince’s son, Shane, was deeply interested in acquiring the UFC before Dana White. Let’s take a look at that front.
Vince McMahon’s son wanted to buy the UFC
As we all know, the early 2000s weren’t kind to UFC as it was shunned by the mainstream media. The former owners, Semaphore Entertainment Group, were desperately looking for a buyer to sell the promotion, and that’s when Shane McMahon expressed his interest, believing the UFC to be an extension of the WWE. “I said, ‘Dad, let’s just go for this one.’ I thought we could really grow that brand because it’s tailor-made for what we do,” Shane McMahon stated in his father’s Netflix documentary. “So to me it was plug and play.”
However, Vince McMahon wasn’t taking it seriously and disapproved of his son’s idea, and he would reveal the reason for that a couple of decades later. “Because our business model, you can create characters much like Disney or someone else, and we can use them forever,” said the former WWE owner. “As opposed to a boxer/UFC [fighter], once you’re beat, once you’re hurt or something, your career’s over. We’re in show business. That’s a sport.”
Well, Dana White would be the one who eventually acquires the promotion, but it seems like Vince McMahon may have had a change of heart and may have developed an interest in real fight sports. But what do you think? Would his inclusion as an owner of Conor McGregor‘s partly-owned BKFC have had a great impact on the promotion? Let us know in the comments down below.
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