Connor Tierney started bare-knuckle boxing as he wanted to be famous, not because he liked the sound of trading blows bare-fisted.Now, the 31-year-old is a champion in the sport and one of the best British talents at the fledgling bare-knuckle league, BKFC, which is co-owned by UFC star Conor McGregor.McGregor became a minority owner of BKFC in 2024 and has since been spotted at several of the promotion’s events, often building hype on the micGettyEx-UFC star Darren Till will step into the four-roped ring for the first time on the same card to fight Geordie Shore personality and former MMA fighter Aaron Chalmers in his first fight without gloves.In fact, the man who is headlining BKFC’s next UK event in Birmingham this weekend is actually terrified of fighting.Tierney: I hate bare-knuckle fighting“I’ll be honest with you, I’m actually scared of fighting,” Tierney told talkSPORT.com ahead of his world title fight against former foe Rico Franco in the main event of BKFC 90 on Saturday.“I hate it,” Tierney continued. “When I get in there, it’s a job that I’m not particularly keen on because of the risks that go with it.“It’s a scary world being in that ring. There’s a lot of darkness that nobody sees and there’s a lot of loneliness that nobody sees, as well as a pressure to thrive.”Tierney, who says he ‘suffers’ with his hands daily, especially in the cold winter months, following broken fingers and smashed knuckles, grew up in Weoley Castle, south-west Birmingham.He is one of 13 siblings — five brothers and seven sisters — and began an amateur boxing career at eight, following in the footsteps of his dad, who was also a boxer.After a whopping 48 amateur bouts, Tierney watched a friend compete in bare-knuckle and his journey started there.‘The Brum Town Bomber’ signed with American promotion BKB in 2019 before joining BKFC three years later.He won two of his first three BKFC fights and became the promotion’s UK welterweight champion in his fourth after a war with Jonny Graham in Coventry, which his boss McGregor hailed as an epic contest.Tierney said bare-knuckle involves a lot of ‘loneliness’ and ‘pressure’ – but he’s happy to be along for the ride as the sport continues to boomBKFCTierney generated aproximately £60,000 from 700 ticket sales for his last fight in Birmingham at BKFC 77BKFCHaving defended the belt against Danny Christie last time out at BKFC 77 in Birmingham, another clash that was met with strong words from McGregor, Tierney finds himself out this time for world honours.Fame makes BKFC career ‘worth it’Despite the brutality of his chosen profession, Tierney admits the rewards that follow far outweigh his worries.“With the fame that comes with it, the publicity, the aftermath, the wins, the constant walking around the street and getting people asking me for photos or grabbing me in a pub to buy me a drink, you can’t beat it,” he said.“If you could bottle up that and sell it, it’d be priceless. That really is obviously the main factor for me.“If I wasn’t getting the gratitude, the respect back and the publicity. I wouldn’t be in this sport, but this sport’s growing massively.“To be known as a bare-knuckle fighter, not only known by people like Tyson Fury, Conor McGregor, all over the world, like Michael ‘Venom’ Page.View Tweet: https://twitter.com/hashtag/BKFC90?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw“I’ve sparred with Darren Till, Leon Edwards, big, big stars that know who I am, celebrities that know who I am, rappers that know who I am, just through bare knuckle.“It’s definitely been worth it, but, like I say, it’s a scary sport and it’s something that I don’t enjoy doing when I’m in there.“But I enjoy the reflections of training and having all the publicity and the limelight around me.”BKFC want to be ‘second to UFC in America’With McGregor’s involvement and other celebrity appearances from names like Snoop Dogg at bare-knuckle events, the sport in general is trending like never before.Tierney says he sold ‘about 10 tickets’ for his first fight with no gloves in 2019, bringing in roughly £300.However, last year, when he fought Christie in his hometown, Tierney claims he gathered around 700 revellers at Birmingham’s BP Pulse Live, equating to somewhere in the region of £60,000.Tierney believes the sport can continue growing rapidly as more and more celebrities get involvedBKFCWatch Boxing on DAZN*If you click a link in this boxout, we will earn affiliate revenueSign up to DAZN to access the definitive subscription for boxing fans.Upgrade to DAZN Ultimate from just £24.99/month, guaranteeing access to 185+ fights annually, a minimum of 12 pay-per-views at no extra cost, as well as every Lega Serie A match and other elite football access.Alternatively, DAZN Standard is just £15.99/month, with the caveat you will have to pay for pay-per-view events.Click here to sign up.He expects to top £100,000 in ticket sales for his next fight, having sold almost 900 tickets in total, making him ‘probably the biggest ticket seller in combat sports for Birmingham.’“I think [bare-knuckle boxing] can continue at a rapid rate,” Tierney concluded.“The growth of BKFC as an organisation has become one of the biggest organisations in the world now. “You look at the likes of McGregor being a co-owner of the promotion, the eyes that he’s brought to it.“Then you’ve got the likes of Till, Mike Perry, Paige VanZant, Eddie Alvarez, Jeremy Stephens…“It’s in the teething process now of becoming very mainstream. They want to be the number two in combat sports, second to UFC in America.“I don’t think that’s far off the way to go. They’re definitely bigger than any other MMA promotion bar UFC.“It’s exciting, especially to know that I’m at the pinnacle of the sport now, the cream of the crop. “I’m being spoken about massively, known almost globally and very well known nationally.”