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Bellator 263 is set to go down this Saturday night (July 31, 2021) inside The Forum in Los Angeles, Calif., featuring promotion’s Featherweight Grand Prix Finale, which began back in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Making it to the finals are none other than current division champion, Patricio Freire, who will take on undefeated A.J. McKee (17-0) for the $1 million prize, as well as the division strap. McKee, a home-grown talent for Bellator who has spent his entire career with the promotion, racking up 17 straight wins in just five years for the promotion, including 12 stoppage victories. On his way to the finals, McKee defeated Georgi Karakhanyan, Derek Campos and Darrion Caldwell.

Winner of seven in a row, Freire keeps trucking along as the poster boy for the promotion, as well as its lone “champ-champ,” holding the Lightweight title to go along with his spot as the 145-pound kingpin. “Pitbull” defeated Juan Archuleta, Pedro Carvalho and Emmanuel Sanchez on his way to earn a spot in the finale, which couldn’t have been scripted better for the promotion.

Before the two men duke it out for bragging rights, a title and a life-changing payday, Bellator released its “Countdown” video for what is undoubtedly the most-anticipated bout for the promotion of the year.

To check out the latest Bellator MMA-related news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive news archive right here.

The Fighters Have Stepped On The Scales Before Their Saturday Showdowns. Prelims Get Underway At 6pm ET/3pm PT.

Read the Full Article Here

Riddick Bowe is 53 years old, and the former undisputed Heavyweight champion of the world retired in 2008 with a professional record of 43-1 (1). Perhaps most notably, Bowe holds a pair of victories over Evander Holyfield. He also won a silver medal in the 1988 Olympics.

It would seem that the promise of a big paycheck for little actual effort or danger proved too much of a temptation for “Big Daddy,” as he’s accepted a Celebrity Boxing match vs. two-time NBA champion and Keeping Up With The Kardashians star Lamar Odom per a report from TMZ. On a more relevant note, Odom recently made his boxing debut by beating up the far smaller Aaron Carter under the watchful eye of Chuck Liddell. On the bright side, Odom will now get the opportunity to experience being the nail rather than the hammer.

The bout is currently scheduled for October 2 on Fite.TV from inside the James L. Knight arena in Miami, Florida.

As if that bout were not enough to easily separate anyone from their hard-earned money, other match ups are materializing. Aaron Carter will return to the ring as well, and though he doesn’t have an opponent yet, hopefully Celebrity Boxing can find him a similarly sized opponent this time around.

In addition, Paulie Malignaggi is returning to action! The former world champion boxer was last seen losing a bare knuckle match to Artem Lobov in 2019, which ended his quest to face Conor McGregor following the sparring clip knockdown incident. He’ll be fighting Corey B, who is famous on TikTok and other social media for reasons unknown.

No, I don’t fully understand why any of this is happening either.

The trash-talk got a little out of hand between AJ McKee and Patricio Freire at the Bellator 263 press conference.

Things almost went down a dangerous path at the Bellator 263 press conference on Thursday. After a heated argument between featherweight champion Patricio Freire and challenger AJ McKee, the top contender tried to snatch the belt away from the Brazilian’s table and the argument almost devolved into a brawl, but was controlled in time.

It all started when both men felt disrespected when their opponents mentioned each other’s families during the press conference, which both McKee and Freire felt like it was crossing the line. Thankfully, nobody was injured or struck during the incident.

You can watch the whole argument develop below:

Tensions rose when AJ’s father and coach, former fighter Antonio McKee, started talking about the many advantages he believes his son to have over Patricio. Patricio got a chance to reply, but the conversation spun out of control when Pitbull and AJ mentioned each other’s families.

“We are either psychic or we have some type of prophecy thing going on here,” Antonio said. “This has all been written since he was three, it has happened step by step. He wrote a million dollar check when he was ten years old and he couldn’t even spell one million. We need to make sure we carry ourselves with respect and pride. We want to be respected and we want to be a trendsetter for people who want to do this sport.”

“We want to be the example. It’s up to him.” McKee continued. “He has the IQ when he’s out there. He knows what he’s doing, I have a lot of confidence in what he’s doing, and I believe in him. We don’t talk smack about Pitbull, we just state facts. My son is younger, he’s longer, he’s stronger, he faster, and he doesn’t have the same mouth on him.”

Prior to the confusion, Pitbull mentioned how McKee’s was not such a dangerous outing for him, claiming that AJ was nervous to face him. Freire went on to compare McKee to Daniel Straus, a man the Brazilian has already defeated three out of four.

“This is one of the biggest fights of my career. I have fought several guys that were very tough too. I beat Michael Chandler which was revenge for me. Now is a new opportunity to show my talent.He is very nervous, he doesn’t want to be there in the cage. When your enemy is making a mistake, don’t interrupt him. I fought four times against someone like McKee, it was Daniel Straus. I feel comfortable, I have several training partners in my gym like him.”

Freire and McKee are expected to meet at Bellator 263’s main event, for the featherweight belt in the Grand Prix final. The card is scheduled to take place in Inglewood, California, on July 31.

Earlier today, news broke that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s bantamweight and Featherweight queen, Amanda Nunes, was forced to withdraw from her upcoming title defense opposite Julianna Pena at UFC 265 on Aug. 7 in Houston, Texas. That match up is likely to be rebooked in the coming months, but prior to that scheduling, UFC 265 is less than two weeks away.

As a result of the cancellation, the co-main event slot is open. Per a report from TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter, the match up of Jose Aldo vs. Pedro Munhoz will rise to that position, as it was previously scheduled directly prior to the co-main event. The fight will remain three rounds — this is no Nate Diaz situation!

Aldo is coming off the first Bantamweight victory of his professional career, a strong showing opposite Marlon Vera. However, many believe that he deserved the nod over Marlon Moraes in his divisional debut as well, and that performance quickly saw the former Featherweight kingpin rise up the divisional ladder. He currently holds the No. 5 position in the rankings.

Ninth-ranked Pedro Munhoz returned to the win column last time out as well, kicking apart the calf of Jimmy Rivera in a fun clash. Three of Munhoz’s four most recent bouts earned “Fight of the Night” honors, so it’s unlikely that UFC 265’s co-main event is boring.

As it stands, UFC 265 remains headlined by the interim Heavyweight title clash between Derrick Lewis and Ciryl Gane. Having lost one title fight already, however, the pressure is on to keep those two healthy and COVID-19 free, lest UFC be forced to give away another pay-per-view (PPV) event.

For the complete UFC 265 fight card and PPV lineup click here.