Stevie Ray’s return after over two years away resulted in a knockout loss.
Ray felt like he was forced out of the UFC six years ago before he went on to compete seven times with the PFL.
On November 7, the MMA veteran started a new stage of his career by making his bare-knuckle boxing debut at BKFC 96 in his home country of Scotland.
‘Braveheart’ had some success but was unable to beat a veteran of the sport in Danny Christie, with both Ray and Conor McGregor referring to his opponent’s experience in the aftermath of the bout.
Which current UFC fighter do you want to see compete in bare-knuckle boxing at some stage?
Stevie Ray thanks Conor McGregor for his kind words after being stopped by veteran opponent
Stevie Ray was sent crashing face-first to the floor in the second round of his fight with Danny Christie on Saturday night before the referee waved the bout off.
‘Braveheart’ made reference to this matchup being a tall order for him to overcome in his BKFC debut considering the gap in experience between him and his opponent.
“I was 2 years out from my last fight & I took on one of BKFC’s most experienced fighters in my first bare knuckle fight and although there was some back and forth talk I respected Danny Christie and knew he was one hard m———– even though he is a grandad hahaha,” Ray wrote on Instagram.
“It was all banter on both sides we were laughing and shaking hands behind the scenes. It’s a sport. I felt a bit rusty in there, Danny was faster and was always winning but I know I hurt him bad to the body. Rushed in with my hands low and got caught. You don’t play bareknuckle. I’ll be back better.”
Ray went on to speak about how he’s been in this situation before and will never quit, while also thanking Conor McGregor for the comments he made at the post-fight press conference.
Who would you pick for Conor McGregor to fight in his BKFC debut and why?🤔
McGregor has just one fight left in the UFC before he is free to fight wherever he wants.
‘The Notorious’ highlighted the body shot that the Scot landed and said that while he was able to hurt Christie, experience played a big part in the result, praising Ray for having the “courage” to take this bout.
“An experienced bare-knuckler [Christie], which was some ask,” McGregor said. “The matchmaking on that one, we could have jumped the gun because Stevie, we could have fed him in a little bit more.”
Christie has a 6-3 record in BKFC and has previously held two titles in the promotion, meaning nothing about this bout will have been new to him.
While it made a lot of sense to sign Ray and have him debut on this card, it wouldn’t have been hard to find someone that like him, was still relatively new to this particular combat sport.
Where McGregor referenced Christie’s experience was his ability to get hurt and overcome this adversity that could have stopped a different fighter.
The 36-year-old UFC veteran told Bloody Elbow in an interview before the fight that this wasn’t going to be a one-off for him and that he signed a three-fight deal with BKFC.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see the promotion match Ray with someone with much less experience than Christie for his next bout in order to allow him to ease into this transition more.
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