#BellatorFWGP finalist @ajmckee101
stopped by the desk to chop up
#Bellator263 with @BCusterTV
#ColbertNyambayar @BellatorMMA
pic.twitter.com/qpAsth4XvE— SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports)
July 4, 2021
The
Bellator 263 headliner between Patricio
Freire and A.J. McKee may
very well be the biggest fight in the history of the
California-based promotion, but McKee is willing to take it one
step further.
Not only does “The Mercenary” believe the featherweight grand prix
final determines the No. 1 fighter under the Bellator banner, but
he thinks the winner also deserves a spot at the top of all
pound-for-pound lists, regardless of organization.
“Definitely. Hands down,” McKee said on Saturday’s Showtime Boxing
broadcast. “This fight is for the pound-for-pound best, I feel, in
the world. At 145 pounds, there’s not too many guys that can stop
myself or ‘Pitbull.’”
McKee has kicked off his professional tenure with 17 consecutive
triumphs in Bellator, a run that includes finishes against Georgi
Karakhanyan, Derek
Campos and Darrion
Caldwell in the promotion’s 145-pound grand prix. Freire, of
course, is a different animal entirely, but it’s a fight that McKee
has been targeting for quite some time now.
“I am going to go out there and dig into my bag of tricks and I am
going to shock the world,” McKee said. “He’s done a lot for the
sport and he has been my target for a long time, ever since I
started to come up. I’ve been calling his name for 17 fights and it
is time now to get it on.”
The Team Bodyshop representative has finished five of his last six
opponents inside the Bellator cage, and he doesn’t envision his
championship clash with Freire needing the full five rounds.
“This is not going the distance. Stylistically, it’s a bad
match up for him,” McKee said. “Nothing personal but my style is
not a good match up for him…. I have to stay long, keep positioning
and my feet. Distance is a big part of this fight. And catching him
on the angle.”