Jeremy Stephens faces off with Conor McGregor after stopping Eddie Alvarez in BKFC KnuckleMania 5 main event

Jeremy Stephens embraced playing the spoiler in the BKFC KnuckleMania 5 main event after he scored two knockdowns and ended Eddie Alvarez’s homecoming after the former UFC champion’s corner stopped the fight following the third round.

Knowing he was going to be the villain, Stephens leaned into that role all week long, but once the action started, he showed that he was truly built for bare-knuckle fighting. Stephens showed no fear throwing down with Alvarez and his patience paid off after he connected with a stiff punch in the third round that sent the 41-year-old veteran down to the canvas.

Alvarez got back to his feet but he was clearly rattled from the knockdown and Stephens smelled blood in the water. Just before the third round ended, Stephens blasted Alvarez with another punch that dropped him to his knees.

It appeared momentarily that Alvarez would continue but then his coaches decided enough was enough and stopped the fight with referee Dan Miragliotta waving off the main event the official end time coming at 5:00 following the third round.

Stephens threw his hands up in celebration and admitted that it felt like the whole world was against him heading into Saturday night.

“Years of being broken,” Stephens answered when asked about what led him to this victory. “I lost so many times in the UFC, like a thousand times but I put myself back together like a 1,003 times.

“My own promoters were against me. The whole city was against me. [Conor] McGregor was against me. Mike Perry, everybody doubted me. Look at me now! Pay me my f*cking money! Let’s go!

With over 50 professional MMA fights on his resume, Stephens has seen it all and done just about everything but it almost feels like he was just waiting for the chance to compete in bare-knuckle. The win on Saturday moved him to 3-0 in BKFC, but no performance was bigger than stopping Alvarez in front of his hometown crowd at BKFC KnuckleMania V.

A moment after he finished speaking on the microphone, Stephens got the chance to come face-to-face with BKFC co-owner Conor McGregor, who has stated numerous times that he plans on competing in bare-knuckle before his fighting career is over.

Of course these two have a shared history after Stephens called himself the real hardest-hitting featherweight in the sport during the UFC 205 press conference in 2016 and McGregor answered back with a hilarious response saying “who the f*ck is that guy?”

That moment has followed those two ever since but now it appears McGregor might actually want to find out how hard Stephens actually hits after the in-ring confrontation.

“Who the f*ck is this guy?” McGregor said to Stephens. “Let’s set a date. Who’s going to stop me man to man? No one’s going to stop me. Dave [Feldman], make a date, let’s do it. I’m down for it bro.”

As much as McGregor might want the fight, he remains under contract to the UFC, and the promotion just recently nixed his plans to pursue a boxing match against Logan Paul so it seems highly unlikely Dana White would sign off on a bare-knuckle brawl with Stephens.

That said, McGregor’s presence commands an audience and his faceoff with Stephens ended up stealing the show on perhaps the biggest night in BKFC history.