Tag Archives: AJ McKee

Patricio “Pitbull” Freire to Find Japanese Kickboxer Chihiro Suzuki in Bellator-Rizin Co-Promotional Card in Japan

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Patricio “Pitbull” Freire has rizin to rush…

The 36-year-old Brazilian mixed martial artist, Bellator‘s franchise fighter will fight this weekend on short notice as part of the Bellator-Rizin co-promotional card at Saitama Super Arena in Japan.

Patricio "Pitbull" FreireFreire, the Bellator featherweight champion, will face Japanese kickboxer Chihiro Suzuki at a 154-pound catchweight on the Rizin portion of the card, just a little more than one month after falling to Sergio Pettis in a Bellator bantamweight title fight.

Freire vs. Suzuki will be contested under Rizin rules in a ring.

The Bellator portion of the card, with bouts in a cage, will begin the proceedings Sunday afternoon in Japan (Saturday night in the U.S.), with the Rizin card following immediately after it.

AJ McKee, the former Bellator featherweight champion, was supposed to headline the Bellator portion of the event against Patricky “Pitbull” Freire, Patricio’s brother, in a Bellator Lightweight World Grand Prix quarterfinal fight. But McKee had to withdraw for medical reasons, it was announced Wednesday.

Rizin lightweight champion Roberto “Satoshi” Souza will replace McKee in the fight and in the tournament.

The Bellator card will include the promotion’s inaugural flyweight title fight, with former Bellator and Rizin bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi taking on Makoto “Shinryu” Takahashi.

Mikuru Asakura — arguably Rizin’s most popular fighter, who also boxed Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year — will face Vugar Karamov in a Rizin featherweight title bout in the Rizin headliner.

In the Rizin co-main event, Bellator’s Juan Archuleta will fight Hiromasa Ougikubo for the Rizin bantamweight title.

And in another title bout, the undefeated Seika Izawa will defend her Rizin women’s super atomweight title against Combate Global’s Claire Lopez.

Patricky “Pitbull” Freire to Fight AJ McKee in Bellator Lightweight World Grand Prix Quarterfinals

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Patricky “Pitbull” Freire has lined up his next opponent…

The 37-year-old Brazilian mixed martial artist will take on fellow former Bellator champion AJ McKee in the Bellator Lightweight World Grand Prix quarterfinals on July 30 at the storied Saitama Super Arena near Tokyo in one of the headlining fights for a card billed as Bellator x Rizin 2.

Patricky "Pitbull" FreireIn addition to McKee vs. Pitbull, former Bellator and Rizin bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi will face Makoto “Shinryu” Takahashi in the inaugural Bellator flyweight title fight. Kana Watanabe will take on Mexican American mixed martial artist Veta Arteaga in a battle of Bellator women’s flyweight contenders.

The card comes on the heels of a successful co-promotion between Bellator and Rizin on New Year’s Eve, which was headlined by McKee and Rizin lightweight champion Roberto “Satoshi” de Souza in a non title bout.

The event in July will be unique. The Bellator fights will take place in a cage under the Unified Rules of MMA. The Rizin fights will take place in a ring under Rizin rules, which include kicks and knees to the head of grounded opponents.

On the Rizin side, former Rizin bantamweight champion Kai Asakura will face former Bellator bantamweight champion Juan Archuleta for the vacant Rizin bantamweight title, and Mikuru Asakura will face Vugar Karamov in a Rizin featherweight title eliminator bout. The Asakura brothers are two of Rizin’s top stars, both popular YouTubers in Japan. Bellator’s Tofiq Musayev will also be on the Rizin portion of the event.

McKee (20-1) has won two straight at lightweight since dropping the Bellator featherweight title to Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, the brother of Patricky. A native of California, McKee, 28, has the most stoppage victories (13) and most submissions wins in Bellator history (7). He won the Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix in 2021, beating Patricio in the finals.

Patricky (24-11) lost the Bellator lightweight title to current champion Usman Nurmagomedov in November. The Brazilian-born striker has dropped three of four. Patricky is tied for the most knockout wins in Bellator history (10) with Michael “Venom” Page.

The McKee vs. Pitbull winner will face Alexandr Shabliy in the grand prix semifinals.

Roberto “Satoshi” de Souza to Fight AJ McKee in Bellator vs. Rizin Card on New Year’s Eve

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Roberto “Satoshi” de Souza will ring in the New Year in the ring…

The 33-year-old Brazilian mixed martial artist, Rizin’s lightweight champion, will fight in an ambitious Bellator vs. Rizin card on New Year’s Eve.

Roberto "Satoshi" de Souzade Souza will fight Bellator star AJ McKee in the main event of the December 31 card at Japan’s Saitama Super Arena. That will be a nontitle matchup.

In the co-main event, it will be both promotion’s featherweight champions — Bellator’s Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and Rizin’s Kleber Koike Erbst — facing off in a superfight.

Also on the card, former Bellator and current Rizin bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi will face Ultimate Fighter veteran Hiromasa Ougikubo, and former Bellator bantamweight champion Juan Archuleta will meet ROAD FC featherweight champion Soo Chul Kim in a bantamweight bout.

All the fights on the card will take place in a ring, rather than a cage, as is tradition in Japanese MMA. The bouts will be held under Rizin rules and not the Unified Rules of MMA, meaning kicks and knees to the head of grounded opponents will be legal. This card is the last addition of an annual big MMA event in Japan on New Year’s Eve.

De Souza (14-1), a Brazilian-born fighter who lives in Japan, has won five straight and is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist.

Freire (34-5) is the greatest fighter in Bellator history, a three-time Bellator featherweight champion and former Bellator lightweight champion. The Brazilian MMA fighter has won nine of his last 10 fights.

Koike (31-5-1), a 33-year-old Brazilian-born fighter who lives and trains in Japan, has won seven straight and has 27 submission finishes in 31 career wins.

Patricio Freire Outlasts AJ McKee to Reclaim Bellator Featherweight Title

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Patricio Freire has his title back…

The 34-year-old Brazilian mixed martial artist, Bellator‘s franchise fighter, gutted out a unanimous decision win (49-46, 48-47, 48-47) over previously undefeated prodigy AJ McKee to win back the featherweight title in the main event of Bellator 277 on Friday night in San Jose, California.

Patricio FreireMcKee beat Freire, known as “Pitbull,” for the title via submission in just 1:57 of the first round last July.

Freire is now a three-time Bellator featherweight champion.

“That day, I came in peace,” Freire said, referring to his loss to McKee last summer. “Today, I came for war. And I’m bringing the belt home.”

It was a hard-fought, close battle between two of the best fighters in the world outside the UFC. ESPN had McKee ranked No. 3 and “Pitbull” ranked No. 5 in the world at featherweight coming in.

There was plenty of talk leading into this fight about how McKee, a 27-year-old whom many believe is a future superstar, would fare in a fight with UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.

But “Pitbull” silenced those discussions Friday night. He did solid work in the early rounds, peppering McKee with leg kicks and punching combinations. In the third, he dropped McKee briefly with an overhand right and grabbed a tight guillotine.

McKee was able to escape that submission and do some of his best work in the late rounds. McKee landed solid combinations in the fourth round and several takedowns in the fifth, nearly getting Freire’s back at one point. In the closing minutes, McKee did his most damage, landing combos with his hands, a takedown and a hard elbow against the cage.

“He’s a tough guy,” Freire said. “He’s a great opponent. It was a hard fight to me.”

Freire (33-5) has won eight of his past nine bouts, including a 61-second knockout of current UFC lightweight contender Michael Chandler at lightweight back in 2019.

The Brazil native held both the Bellator featherweight and lightweight titles from 2019 to 2021. He lost the featherweight belt to McKee and relinquished the lightweight gold last November to focus on featherweight.

Freire has the most wins (21), the most featherweight wins (20) and the most title fight wins (11) in Bellator history.

Patricky “Pitbull” Freire to Fight Peter Queally for His Brother’s Vacated Bellator Men’s Lightweight Title

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Patricky “Pitbull” Freire is hoping to keep it in the family…

The 35-year-old Brazilian mixed martial artist is set to fight Peter Queally on November 5 in Ireland for the Bellator men’s lightweight title.

Patricky “Pitbull” Freire

The announcement comes on the heels of news that Patricky’s brother Patricio “Pitbull” Freire has vacated his lightweight title, according to Bellator president Scott Coker.

Coker announced the news on The MMA Hour.

Patricio dropped his featherweight title to AJ McKee on July 31. Patricio said on The MMA Hour that he will now turn focus to getting the McKee rematch at featherweight, which opens the door for his brother to become lightweight champion.

“First thing is, I lost the featherweight division,” Patricio said. “For me, it doesn’t make sense to be a champion in the lightweight division. If I lost at 145 pounds, I can’t be the champion at 155.”

Queally (13-5-1), an SBG Ireland product, is coming off a second-round TKO (doctor’s stoppage) over Patricky “Pitbull,” a result that Freire’s team disputed at the time. Patricky (23-10) has dropped two straight.