CHICAGO – There’s clearly no love lost between Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Freire and undefeated A.J. McKee.
Freire sees McKee as someone who has not yet proven himself; McKee sees Freire as a champ who’s afraid to fight him.
So when the duo were both signed to appear at Bellator 221, you had to figure they’d exchange a few cross words.
That’s exactly what happened at the recent Bellator 221 news conference, as “Pitbull” who goes up in weight class to meet lightweight champion Michael Chandler in the main event; and McKee, who meets former featherweight titleholder Pat Curran during the main card, all but booked their own future title fight.
“I told you, he wants Pat to do a job that he can’t do, and that’s why I say Pat is the true champ for taking a real fight, so I thank pat for that opportunity,” McKee said.
That drew a response from Freire.
“Curran is one of the best guys that I fought I believe he’s going to kill this [expletive],” Freire said. “You fought nobody, man. You fought nobody. Now you’re going to fight a really good guy.”
Freire and McKee sure look like they’re making Bellator CEO Scott Coker and matchmaker Rich Chou’s jobs easy.
For the full exchange between the featherweights, click on the video above.
Bellator 221 takes place Saturday at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., near Chicago. The main card streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
For more on Bellator 221, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.
