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Check out the full video highlights of Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire vs. A.J. McKee from the Bellator 263 main event.

A.J. McKee is a world champion. The undefeated featherweight took out Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire for the championship and $1 million in prize money in the main event of Bellator 263.

McKee and Freire were patient during the first round. They would exchange some low kicks, but nothing significant had happened yet. McKee would change that though and landed a perfectly timed head kick that stunned Freire. He backed up against the cage and McKee followed up with more strikes that dropped him to the canvas. McKee backed up as he thought the fight was over by that point, but it was not and he attacked again. He secured a guillotine choke on Freire and that was all she wrote.

Check out Mookie Alexander’s play-by-play of the first round of Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire vs. A.J. McKee:

McKee with an oblique kick right away from the southpaw stance. Another one for McKee. Leg kick slaps Pitbull’s lead leg. Pitbull catches a McKee kick and lands a kick. Feel out round so far but then a head kick rocks Patricio Pitbull! THEN DROPS HIM WITH PUNCHES AND MCKEE CELEBRATES TOO EARLY! He thought he had the KO! Now he goes for the guillotine! MCKEE CHOKES PITBULL OUT COLD! IT IS OVER! WE HAVE A NEW CHAMP! AJ MCKEE IS FOR REAL!

Official result: AJ McKee def. Patricio Pitbull by technical submission (guillotine choke) at 1:57 of round 1

Bellator MMA has a new Featherweight champion and star in A.J. McKee, who stunned the combat world by submitting the now-former champ-champ, Patricio Freire, in the very first round at Bellator 263 to win the Grand Prix, as well as the division title.

Both men got off to a tentative start, going through a feeling out process. “Mercenary” eventually landed a flush high kick that stunned “Pitbull,” and then proceeded to follow up with some huge shots that dropped the Brazilian champ.

McKee, however, celebrated a bit too early, pulling away and raising his hands in victory instead of going in for the finish. Upon realizing the referee hadn’t called an end to the fight, McKee went right back to work and sunk in an air-tight guillotine choke.

“Pitbull” tried his best to hang on before he went out on his feet. This time the stoppage was called and a new champion was crowned. After a few seconds, “Pitbull’s” team seemed to be protesting the stoppage, but it fell on deaf ears because the former champ was clearly out.

Check out McKee’s $1 million finish above along with other main event highlights below:

For complete Bellator 263 play-by-play updates and results click here.

Check out which fighters won performance bonuses at UFC Vegas 33.

On paper, UFC Vegas 33 looked like it was going to be a bust. But despite the numerous fight cancellations, Saturday’s event at the home base APEX turned out to be an exciting night of fights.

The prelims opened with a Phil Rowe’s second-round TKO win over Orion Cosce. A pair of one-sided unanimous decision wins followed: Zarrukh Adashev over Ryan Benoit, and Jinh Yu Frey over Ashley Yoder.

The featherweight bout that followed was a bit painful to watch as we saw Danny Chavez absorb a hard eye poke and a groin shot shortly after. Despite having a point taken away, Kai Kamaka got the win via majority draw. Closing the prelims was a barnburner between Chris Gruetzemacher and Rafa Garcia, where the former got the nod from all three judges.

The bout that followed to open the main card was another firefight. Welterweights Bryan Barbarena and Jason Witt left everything in the Octagon, trading hard shots at each other until the final bell sounded. Once the dust cleared, it was Witt who won via majority decision. However, the two men won’t go home empty-handed as they’ve both won $50K for Fight of the Night.

The next three fights all ended via highlight-reel stoppages. Debuting Melsik Baghdasaryan scored a second-round TKO win over fellow newcomer Collin Anglin via head kick, earning him a Performance of the Night bonus. It was followed by Jared Gooden’s one-punch KO win over Niklas Stolze in the first round.

Capping off the list of bonuses for the night was Cheyenne Buys, who landed a clean kick on Gloria de Paula’s left jaw, en route to her first Performance of the Night bonus in the UFC.

The main event featured a five-rounder between middleweights Sean Strickland and birthday boy Uriah Hall. The former training partners traded leather for the most part, and it was Strickland who led the exchanges with his jabs and volume.

In the end, it was Strickland who won via unanimous decision, as he extended his win streak to five.

Performance of the Night: Cheyenne Buys and Melsik Baghdasaryan

Phil Rowe (TKO at 4:21 of round 2), Zarrukh Adashev (unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 29-28), Jinh Yu Frey (unanimous decision 30-27 on all cards), Kai Kamaka (majority draw 29-27, 28-28, 28-28), Chris Gruetzemacher (unanimous decision 29-28 on all cards).

Fight of the Night: Bryan Barbarena vs. Jason Witt

Jason Witt (unanimous decision 29-28 on all cards), Melsik Baghdasaryan (TKO at 1:50 of round 2), Jared Gooden (KO at 1:08 of round 1), Cheyenne Buys (TKO at 1:00 of round 1), Sean Strickland (unanimous decision 50-44, 50-45, 49-46).

The Bellator 263 main event saw A.J. McKee club and sub Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire to win Bellator’s featherweight GP tournament, the featherweight belt, and a crisp $1M bonus.

The top of the Bellator 263 billing was the setting where the promotion’s featherweight Grand Prix finale took place, with undefeated A.J. McKee wobbling Patricio Freire with a head kick, dropping him with a boxing combination, and then technically submitting him with a standing guillotine. To the victor goes the spoils, and McKee has won Bellator’s featherweight title, the GP finale, and is also the recipient of a $1M win bonus.

A.J. is a home grown prospect for Bellator — his entire career has been with the promotion — and we’ve seen him blossom from an up and coming prospect and into a world champion. A.J. McKee just might be the very best featherweight on the planet. Tell me I’m wrong.

A little bit of feeling out went on to get things going. Both men were throwing out feelers and leg kicks, trying to gauge the other man. Then, McKee blasted Pitbull with a head kick that wobbled him. A.J. pounced with followup combination that dropped Pitbull, but then looked at the referee to stop the fight. When the ref didn’t stop the action, McKee proceeded to lock up a standing guillotine that put Patricio to sleep. Wow!

A.J. McKee def. Patricio Freire by submission (Guillotine) at 1:57 of round 1: Featherweight Title

AJ McKee submitted Patricio Freire at Bellatoe 263. On Twitter, pro fighters reacted to the finish.

In very impressive fashion, AJ McKee became the new Bellator featherweight champion at Bellator 263. After a quick flurry in the first round, which starched then champion Patricio Freire, the ‘Mercenary’ secured a tight standing guillotine and put ‘Pitbull’ to sleep before the two-minute mark. On Twitter, pro fighters reacted to the finish.