SAN JOSE, Calif. – With the featherweight belt back around his waist after a respite of a little more than eight months, Patricio Freire has no plans on relinquishing it again anytime soon.
Freire (33-5 MMA, 21-5 BMMA) avenged his 2021 submission loss to A.J. McKee (18-1 MMA, 18-1 BMMA) in the Bellator 277 main event Friday at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., with a unanimous decision. McKee was more than a 3-1 favorite to retain the title, but “Pitbull” handed him the first loss of his pro career.
The fight was at times hard to score and closely contested. Freire got a 49-46 scorecard from one judge and a pair of 48-47s from two others. Of the MMA media outlets tracked by MMADecisions.com, 13 of 16 scored the fight for Freire.