Bellator MMA is adding one more championship
collision to its upcoming show across the pond.

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The promotion announced on Thursday in a release that Patricio
Freire (35-7) would be putting his featherweight strap on the
line against Jeremy
Kennedy (19-3, 1 NC) at
Bellator 302. Kennedy was initially slated to face James
Gallagher, but Bellator opted to slot him into a title tilt and
rebook Gallagher against Leandro
Higo. Two additional prelims were added to complete the March
22 slate that no longer includes Sinead
Kavanagh due to her foe, Leah
McCourt, falling out from injury.

Freire will return to 145 pounds after a brief joyride down to
bantamweight and then up to lightweight in 2023. The
pound-for-pound talent was originally booked against Jesus
Pinedo as part of the PFL vs. Bellator Champs card in February
and then was expected to fight Gabriel
Braga on that card again to represent team Bellator against
Professional Fighters Leagueβ€”and even without
his help, Bellator fighters crushed their PFL counterparts with a
final score of five to one. Freire is looking for his first win
since 2022 when he defeated then-Rizin Fighting Federation beltholder Kleber
Koike Erbst.

Kennedy gets a crack at gold on the heels of a three-fight win
streak that includes decisions over Emmanuel
Sanchez and Pedro
Carvalho and a TKO due to injury against Aaron Pico
in 2022. Since debuting with the organization in 2020, the
well-traveled Canadian has only lost once, falling short on the
scorecards to Adam
Borics. β€œJBC” is currently one of a small number of fighters
throughout MMA history to compete at least four times under the
Bellator, PFL and Ultimate Fighting Championship during their
careers.

Having shifted gears to 145 pounds, Ireland’s Gallagher (12-2) will
square off with Higo (22-6) in what has become a grudge match. The
two were previously booked against one another in 2023, but it fell
through when Gallagher withdrew for undisclosed reasons. β€œThe
Strabanimal” bounced back from his first career submission defeatβ€”a
guillotine to future champ Patrick
Mixβ€”by taking a split decision over James
Gonzalez up in weight. Like his foe, Higo rebounded from a loss
with a statement performance against Nikita
Mikhailov in 2023.

Additionally, Bellator matched Steven Hill
(7-0) against Jordan
Newman (6-0) in a middleweight pairing of promising unbeaten
fighters age 30 or younger. It is also pairing up once-beaten light
heavyweights for a chance to climb the 205-pound rankings as
Luke
Trainer (7-1) faces off against Grant Neal
(9-1) in a contest that will display a significant height
disparity.

Bellator 302 goes down at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern
Ireland, on March 22, with a vacant light heavyweight championship
headliner on tap as Corey
Anderson vies for the strap against Karl Moore.
In addition to the newly announced Freire-Kennedy co-headliner, the
main card will feature a middleweight scrap pitting Fabian
Edwards against Aaron
Jeffery, the aforementioned Gallagher vs. Higo and lightweights
Tim
Wilde vs. Manoel
Sousa.

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

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