Bellator MMA Vs. RIZIN FF Results And Highlights: Bellator Sweeps RIZIN

Bellator MMA vs. RIZIN FF took place on New Year’s Eve at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan, and MMA News has all of the results and highlights from the event! The two organizations have collaborated on events and shared fighters in the past, but …

Bellator MMA vs. RIZIN FF took place on New Year’s Eve at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan, and MMA News has all of the results and highlights from the event! The two organizations have collaborated on events and shared fighters in the past, but this was the first time they’ve co-promoted an event entirely…

Continue Reading Bellator MMA Vs. RIZIN FF Results And Highlights: Bellator Sweeps RIZIN at MMA News.

Patricky Pitbull Waited Over 5 Hours For Stitches After Bellator 288 Loss

Patricky Pitbull lost his lightweight title to Usman Nurmagomedov at Bellator 288 but was apparently left waiting for medical care afterwards. The older of the two Pitbull brothers Patricky was the reigning and defending lightweight champion heading in…

Patricky Pitbull lost his lightweight title to Usman Nurmagomedov at Bellator 288 but was apparently left waiting for medical care afterwards. The older of the two Pitbull brothers Patricky was the reigning and defending lightweight champion heading into Bellator 288 after winning the title from Peter Queally. Unfortunately for him, standing across from him was…

Continue Reading Patricky Pitbull Waited Over 5 Hours For Stitches After Bellator 288 Loss at MMA News.

Coker Not Optimistic About McKee/Freire Trilogy Despite “Close” Rematch

Despite the tight nature of the featherweight title rematch between A.J. McKee and Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, Bellator President Scott Coker doesn’t believe a trilogy fight is “guaranteed.” At Bellator 277 last Friday, two 145-pound titans collided for the second time in a year. Last July, McKee secured a seat at the global featherweight table when…

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Despite the tight nature of the featherweight title rematch between A.J. McKee and Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, Bellator President Scott Coker doesn’t believe a trilogy fight is “guaranteed.”

At Bellator 277 last Friday, two 145-pound titans collided for the second time in a year. Last July, McKee secured a seat at the global featherweight table when he became the first man to defeat “Pitbull” since 2016. After five defenses, the Brazilian’s reign came to a close thanks to a guillotine choke at Bellator 263.

Off the back of his championship and Grand Prix glory, and having extended his perfect record to 18-0, McKee called out the top featherweights in the UFC and claimed to be the world’s best at 145 pounds.

While he had a chance to further support that sentiment by adding another blemish to Freire’s impressive résumé, McKee fell short in their rematch, losing a tight decision on the judges’ scorecards. In doing so, the 27-year-old had the 0 on his record removed.

Following the event, promotional kingpin Coker gave his take on what’s since been a highly-debated contest and result. Like many, the South Korean-born American labeled the Bellator 277 main event as “very close.”

“Listen, the judges saw it the way they saw it and he’s the new champ,” Coker said. “As far as I’m concerned, he deserves it. I think it was a very close fight. It was a technical fight. And it’s not my job to judge – it’s for the judges and the state athletic commission to work that out, and that’s what happened. That’s what you saw. You saw the judges call the fight the way they did. I did think it was very close. I was sitting around some of my friends and said, ‘What did you think?’ Half of them said A.J., half of them said ‘Pitbull.’ It was very close.” (h/t MMA Junkie)

Coker Unsure What’s Next For McKee & Freire

With their rivalry sitting level at one win apiece, it would seem a trilogy bout is the logical next step, especially given how close the rematch was. However, with McKee expressing a desire to transition to lightweight, it doesn’t appear to be that simple.

Coker shared that sentiment post-fight, claiming that while he’d love to a book a third date between the Brazilian and the American, it’s far from guaranteed.

With that in mind, the 59-year-old named 17-1 featherweight Ádám Borics, who’s riding a four-fight win streak in the Bellator cage, as a potential challenger for the first defense of Freire’s third reign on the 145-pound throne.

“I’m going to go back and watch this fight and talk to my team,” Coker said. “But as much as we’d love to see a rematch, let’s see how that goes. I can’t really answer that question. If all parties want to do that, we might do it. But it’s not guaranteed. Adam Borics looked great against Mads Burnell (at Bellator 276 in March) — he had a great performance. He had an amazing fight, and we’ll see.”

Would you like to see A.J. McKee and Patricio Freire share the cage for a third time?

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Patricio Freire: “If A.J. McKee wants a trilogy fight, it has to be at featherweight”, Calls out Alexander Volkanovski

Patricio Freire, A.J. McKee, Alexander VolkanovskiAfter an eight-month break from his last bout, Patricio Freire won the featherweight belt back from A.J. McKee with no plans to relinquish it again in the near future. In July 2021, Patricio Freire lost his featherweight strap to A.J. McKee by submission via a guillotine choke. This past Friday, Freire avenged his loss to […]

Patricio Freire, A.J. McKee, Alexander Volkanovski

After an eight-month break from his last bout, Patricio Freire won the featherweight belt back from A.J. McKee with no plans to relinquish it again in the near future.

In July 2021, Patricio Freire lost his featherweight strap to A.J. McKee by submission via a guillotine choke. This past Friday, Freire avenged his loss to McKee and reclaimed his championship belt via unanimous decision at Bellator 277. ‘Pitbull’ was a considerable underdog going into the fight and managed to hand McKee the first loss of his professional career.

Both fighters put on a show for the fans in a closely-contested affair that ultimately saw Freire get his hand raised. Freire scored 49-46 on one judge’s scorecard while he got a pair of 48-47 from the other two judges.

At Bellator 277 post-fight news conference, Patricio Freire said, “MMA is a tough sport. To be defeated is normal. I don’t like it. Nobody likes it. I just went home, trained harder and smarter, and came back. That’s it: Focus.”

What’s next for Patricio Freire?

With the rivalry between Patricio Freire and A.J. McKee tied at one and one, many speculated a trilogy bout will be on the cards next. McKee stated that he would only consider the third fight with Freire if it happens at lightweight since he intends to move up to that division.

Freire made his feelings clear about staying at the 145-pound division which is the only weight class he’s willing to give a shot at the title to McKee.

“He’s tough – he’s very good. But the king is here,” Freire told MMA Junkie. “The featherweight division is my division. I fought at lightweight (before) because of Michael Chandler (and our rivalry). My brother has the belt (at lightweight). I don’t care about that division. If he wants to fight me again, he has to come to featherweight. That’s it.”

While there are fighters like Adam Borics and former McKee teammate Aaron Pico for Freire to compete with at lightweight, he called for a cross-promotion match with the UFC against their featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.

“If Dana White has some balls, let’s put champion vs. champion. That’s my goal,” Freire said. “(But) I don’t care who’s next. I’m going to kick all their asses.”

Would you like to see Patricio Freire fight Alexander Volkanovski?

McKee vs. Pitbull II & Nemkov vs. Anderson Final Booked For April 15

A massive Bellator double-header is booked for April 15 when AJ McKee vs. Patricio Pitbull II and Vadim Nemkov vs. Corey Anderson take place in the SAP Center in San Jose, California. AJ McKee’s run as the Bellator featherweight champion has just begun, but he will already be facing a familiar foe. McKee will be…

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A massive Bellator double-header is booked for April 15 when AJ McKee vs. Patricio Pitbull II and Vadim Nemkov vs. Corey Anderson take place in the SAP Center in San Jose, California.

AJ McKee’s run as the Bellator featherweight champion has just begun, but he will already be facing a familiar foe. McKee will be matched up with the man he defeated to become that champion, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.

Both McKee and Pitbull fought their way through the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix last year to make it to the finals. On July 31, 2021, the two met in the final with the featherweight belt and one million dollars on the line. Pitbull was holding the strap coming in, but it would be McKee who would walk out with it. He was able to stop Freire by submission in the first round.

McKee was on the last fight of his Bellator contract, but winning the title renewed it. He will now begin his title reign against a very formidable foe. Prior to losing the featherweight title, Pitbull was simultaneously holding the lightweight belt as well. He decided to vacate that 155-pound belt so that his brother could have a shot at it. Now without any belt, Pitbull will be coming in hard against McKee to regain what he lost.

McKee has spent his entire professional career with Bellator. He started as a 0-0 prospect and worked his way up to the very top. Scott Coker believes that he may be the best featherweight in the world at this point. There is no love lost between these two as Pitbull is adamant that he was not finished by McKee in their first meeting.

In the co-main event, we will see the finals of the light heavyweight grand prix when defending champion Vadim Nemkov takes on Corey Anderson. To reach this point, Nemkov defeated Phil Davis and Julius Anglickas while Anderson defeated Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov and Ryan Bader, both via TKO.

Which two fighters do you think will emerge victorious in this massive double-header?

Continue Reading McKee vs. Pitbull II & Nemkov vs. Anderson Final Booked For April 15 at MMA News.

Patricio Freire Vacates 155lb Title So His Brother Can Fight For It At Bellator 270

PitbullPatricky Freire will now be fighting for the lightweight title at Bellator 270 after his brother, Patricio Freire vacated his title on Wednesday. Bellator president, Scott Coker was on Ariel Helwani’s ‘The MMA Hour’ today and made the announcement that Patricio Freire would be vacating his lightweight title. Patricio’s older brother, Patricky Freire will now […]

Pitbull

Patricky Freire will now be fighting for the lightweight title at Bellator 270 after his brother, Patricio Freire vacated his title on Wednesday.

Bellator president, Scott Coker was on Ariel Helwani’s ‘The MMA Hour’ today and made the announcement that Patricio Freire would be vacating his lightweight title. Patricio’s older brother, Patricky Freire will now be going toe to toe against Peter Queally as the main event at Bellator 270.

‘Pitbull’ had his eyes set on the featherweight champion, AJ McKee who he would end up losing to at Bellator 263. McKee is the only fighter ‘Pitbull’ has lost to since 2015. Freire is a two-time featherweight champion and it seems as if he wants to make himself a three-time featherweight champion now. He has his eyes set on a rematch with McKee rather than staying in the lightweight division.

The last time fans saw Freire in the lightweight division was when he dethroned former champion Michael Chandler. Since then we have seen Chandler make a transition into the UFC and become a contender in the organization. While Freire was involved in the featherweight tournament where he defended his title in three fights before losing it in the finals to McKee via submission.

Patricky Freire, the second half of the ‘Pitbull’ brothers, last fight was against Queally back in May of 2021. He would go on to lose that fight by a doctor’s stoppage at the end of the second round.

“Honor and family come first,” Patricio wrote on Twitter after news of him vacating the title was announced. “When I first won the LW belt it was just about revenge. It was still an honor, but with the loss at 145 I’m starting over. It’s time for the LW division to move on and for Patricky Pitbull to have his shot. My focus is AJ and him only.”

Do you think Patricky Freire will become the Bellator lightweight champion on November 5?