What does it take to beat the greatest fighter in Bellator history?
That question has perplexed contenders across two divisions for the better part of 11 years, and it’s the question A.J. McKee aims to answer at Bellator 263. Saturday’s main event between featherweight and lightweight champion Patrício “Pitbull” Freire and the undefeated McKee is not only one of the biggest fights of Bellator’s calendar, it’s also one of the most meaningful collisions of homegrown names the promotion has ever put together.
If MMA had a true Hall of Fame, Pitbull’s trove of promotional records would read like a first-ballot inductee: The most wins (20), fights (24), title bouts (12), title wins (10), and finishes in Bellator history (13), not to mention the most knockouts (7) and second-most submissions (5) in Bellator featherweight history.