Morning Report: Conor McGregor, Dan Hooker tease Feb. 1 matchup: ‘Lock it in’ (2025)

Conor McGregor could be one step closer to booking his next opponent.

At Saturday’s BKFC event in Marbella, Spain, the bare-knuckle promotion’s part owner was caught on camera briefly mentioning that his next fight would be against Dan Hooker on Feb. 1. The UFC is expected to hold an event in Saudi Arabia on that date and it sounds like McGregor has plans to fight there.

See a clip of McGregor’s comments below.

Hooker, who was also in Marbella to corner The Mac Life’s Oscar Willis, was asked about the supposed callout in an interview with Submission Radio and he confirmed there was mutual interest.

“Lock it in,” Hooker said. “Yeah, I jumped in the ring, [McGregor and I] had a few words inside the ring, but yeah, Feb. 1 works for me in Saudi. We’ll get that thing straight away.”

No bouts have been booked for the Saudi Arabia event, which is yet to be announced by the UFC (though an event page has been created on the country’s official tourism website).

Should that card need a headliner, Hooker is down to make some magic happen with McGregor, especially after spending time with “The Notorious” in Spain.

“We’re kindred spirits, as you could say,” Hooker said. “We get along quite well. I think we’re both very similar, there’s a lot of similarities there. We just spoke in the ring. I’m on board, he’s on board, we just need to get the UFC on board and we’ll get this thing across the line.”

McGregor has proven to be a valuable partner top BKFC, with frequent mentions of the organization on social media and by showing up personally to several events. Though he is currently under UFC contract and thus ineligible to actually step into the BKFC ring, he has become one of its most prominent faces from a promotional standpoint.

Hooker can vouch for the electricity currently buzzing around BKFC and hopes to compete in bare-knuckle boxing himself someday—after he’s done chasing UFC lightweight gold.

“I don’t think anyone on the face of the Earth doesn’t want to see me fight in bare-knuckle besides my missus,” Hooker said. “I’d do it for fun, you know what I mean? For the most part now, my eyes are set on the world titles and getting that strap around my waist.”

FOTY? Brandon Royval handed Tatsuro Taira his first loss in a thrilling five-rounder and kept his spot in line for another UFC flyweight title shot.

Raw Dawg. Following his big win, Royval vowed to hold nothing back should he get another championship opportunity.

Bewilderment. Raquel Pennington still doesn’t understand how she lost a decision—and her bantamweight title—to Julianna Peña at UFC 307.

Robbery? Artuer Beterbiev is boxing’s undisputed light heavyweight champion, but not everyone agrees he deserves that status after a narrow win over Dmitry Bivol.

Warriors. Media members Oscar Willis and Ben Davis threw down in the BKFC ring, with Willis putting on a show in a dominant win.

The Next Highlight? Justin Gaethje’s manager looks ahead to what’s next for the all-action star.

Perfection. Ariane Grande tears down the house on SNL with amazing UFC-Celine Dion spoof.

UFC Vegas 98 post-fight show.

Post-fight speech of the year?

The best rounds ever.

Media on media.

Pure destruction.

On to the Next One. MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee make the matches for Brandon Royval and the rest of UFC Vegas 98’s big winners.

Who’s next for “The Diamond?”

So much respect.

Better luck next time.

Jacked.

Belal Muhammad (24-3, 1 NC) vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov (18-0); UFC 310, Dec. 7

Alexandre Pantoja (28-5) vs. Kai Asakura (21-4); UFC 310, Dec. 7

Nick Diaz (26-10, 2 NC) vs. Vicente Luque (22-10-1); UFC 310, Dec. 7

Ciryl Gane (12-2) vs. Alexander Volkov (38-10); UFC 310, Dec. 7

Chris Barnett (23-8) vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu (12-5); UFC 308, Oct. 26

Oban Elliott (11-2) vs. Bassil Hafez (9-4-1); UFC 309, Nov. 16

David Onama (12-2) vs. Lucas Almeida (15-3); UFC 309, Nov. 16

Hope everyone enjoyed the Saturday scraps and can now take a holiday to rest and recover. Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Facebook.