BKFC Corner Under Scrutiny After Ignoring Fighter's Safety Ends Brutally
Despite alerting his corner multiple times, Mac Bygraves' words fell on deaf ears, resulting in a TKO finish many found unnecessary.
Conor McGregor's bare knuckle promotion stays under the heat for its life-threatening debacles. The latest controversy came at BKFC 94, where a fighter repeatedly complained to his corner about his limited vision, to no avail.
Ariel Helwani Calls Out Corner's Mismanagement
Just 26 seconds into the third round, Gaz Corran stopped Mac Bygraves after three knockdowns for the BKFC UK middleweight title. The ugliest part, however, is that Bygraves had already told his corner that he couldn't see. Still, somehow the corner sent him right back into the four-rope ring, without so much as a close inspection.
Ariel Helwani was among those to criticise the corner's leniency.
“Awful stuff on the BKFC broadcast. Fighter tells his corner multiple times; I can’t see. I can’t see. Corner ignores him and just keeps saying, Do you want to keep fighting or not?" Helwani wrote on X.
“He clearly didn’t. HE COULDN’T SEE, he said repeatedly. Seconds later … KO’d. Awful. Negligent. He should fire that corner.”
Awful stuff on the BKFC broadcast. Fighter tells his corner MULTIPLE times, I can’t see. I can’t see.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 26, 2026
Corner ignores him and just keeps saying, Do you want to keep fighting or not? He clearly didn’t. HE COULDN’T SEE, he said repeatedly.
Seconds later … KO’d. Awful.…
In his first video statement on Instagram since that incident, Bygraves could be seen with visible damage to what appeared to be his left eye. Completely swollen shut, it definitely raises more questions about the corner's dubious decision.
You can catch the night's action below:
However, these accidents are nothing unique to BKFC.
BKFC 94 Brings Back Memories From UFC Vegas
The world of combat is no stranger to fighters putting even their lives on the line. The Bygraves incident, however, has brought up some chilling reminders.
Only last month, at UFC Vegas 120, Billy Ray Goff suffered a similar fate after his corner sent him back to the Octagon despite two rounds of merciless beating from Ty Miller. The coach's game plan? Keep circling and avoid fighting exchanges.
As anyone could have expected, the fight ended at just the 15-second mark of the third round after Miller landed a heavy right hand. UFC great Daniel Cormier, watching from the cageside, wasted no time in blasting the corner's decision.
“You could see his orbital bone is broken—look at his eye,” Cormier said on the broadcast. “Look at his right eye. And then when he got hit on the right eye, he went down. The coach told him, ‘Don’t engage, just circle and essentially run.’ Why not just stop the fight?"
Apparently, corners play a huge role when it comes to combat sports. And while BKFC itself has received massive backlash for fighter safety, there's little even the promotion can do if the fighters' teams turn a blind eye even on the most glaring red flags.
