Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship and Naked Knuckle Struggle League are making their official entry into India, marking a major enlargement into one of many world’s largest fight sports activities markets.
The transfer is being spearheaded by World League of Fighters, BKFC’s license holder, which is co-founded by Rajesh Banga, Sunil Mathew and Siraj Gill. The group has introduced in distinguished movie producer Parag Sanghvi and Bollywood star and martial artist Tiger Shroff to hitch the board alongside BKFC founder and president David Feldman and former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor, who turned a part-owner of BFKC in 2024.
WLF beforehand delivered a sold-out BKFC occasion in Dubai final 12 months, which the group describes as the most important bare-knuckle combating occasion held within the Center East.
The India enlargement will introduce a team-based bare-knuckle league format – marking the primary time such a construction has been carried out within the historical past of the game. The format will function six inaugural groups: Crushers, Punishers, Warriors, Phantoms, Gladiators and Infernos, reworking particular person fights right into a franchise-based competitors.
Rahul Saxena has been appointed CEO to steer the platform. He brings expertise in scaling international manufacturers to the function.
“India is not only a market – it’s the way forward for international fight sports activities,” Banga, Mathew and Gill mentioned in a joint assertion. “Along with BKFC, BKFL and WLF, we’re constructing an ecosystem that may develop Indian fighters, create international stars and ship world-class struggle leisure to tens of millions of followers.”
Sanghvi positioned the enterprise as a possibility to construct a sports activities mental property from India with international attain. “That is the place world-class storytelling meets uncooked, uncompromising sport,” he mentioned. “With WLF, BKFC and Conor McGregor, we aren’t simply launching a league – we’re architecting a world sports activities IP from India that may command consideration, expertise and fandom worldwide.”
Feldman emphasised India’s longstanding place within the group’s enlargement technique. “India has been on our roadmap for a very long time,” he mentioned. “The dimensions, the vitality, the tradition — there isn’t a place prefer it. With the management group now we have assembled and our partnership with WLF, we’re bringing the purest type of fight sports activities to a nation prepared for it.”
McGregor, who serves as a world associate for BKFC, framed the enlargement as transformative. “India has warriors in its DNA,” he mentioned. “What we’re constructing with BKFC and BKFL in India will probably be one thing the world has by no means seen earlier than. This isn’t simply enlargement – this can be a revolution.”
Shroff, becoming a member of McGregor as a board member, highlighted the cultural significance of the enterprise. “Honored to face alongside Conor McGregor as we create one thing actually historic for Indian sport,” he mentioned. “That is greater than a struggle – it’s a world motion, and historical past is being written. Identical to cinema, sport is a celebration of expertise and ability, and Parag [Sanghvi] and I are dedicated to turning this right into a landmark second for India.”
The primary official BKFC and BKFL team-based occasions are scheduled for 2026, with venue and struggle card particulars to be introduced.
