One of the biggest fights in Bellator MMA history now has a date.
On Thursday night,
MMA Fighting reported that the featherweight grand prix final
will take place on July 31. At the event expected to be named
Bellator 263, Patricio
Freire (32-4) will come to blows with A.J. McKee
(17-0) with the 145-pound throne, the million-dollar prize and
significant pound-for-pound consideration on the line. Sherdog.com
has since confirmed the date of the event with a source close to
the situation.
Current two-division champ Freire – “Pitbull” is the featherweight
and lightweight champ concurrently – will put his title up for
grabs at 145 pounds and look to extend his promotional record for
the most consecutive defenses in one reign. Since suffering a
broken leg against Benson
Henderson in 2016, Freire has looked nigh-unbeatable as he
racked up wins over the likes of Michael
Chandler, Daniel
Straus and Emmanuel
Sanchez twice. “Pitbull” holds or is in contention for most of
the top records in Bellator history including most fights, wins and
finishes.
While “Pitbull” has seemed nearly unbeatable on his current run,
McKee has been completely unassailable since turning pro in 2015.
“The Mercenary” has racked up 17 straight wins with the promotion,
far and away the most of any Bellator fighter. His Bellator-high
winning streak of 17 eclipses among any major organization,
surpassing names like Georges St.
Pierre, Jon Jones,
Kamaru
Usman and Anderson
Silva. In this tournament, the Team Bodyshop standout has
recorded victories over Pat Curran,
Georgi
Karakhanyan, Derek
Campos, and most recently, a
“Submission of the Year”-winning neck crank of Darrion
Caldwell.