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In 2011, a younger fighter named Jon Jones stepped into the Octagon to face a legend in Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the sunshine heavyweight championship. The upstart with infinite potential dominated Rua and have become the youngest fighter to win a UFC championship on the age of 23. Ten years later, the undefeated aspiring star AJ McKee met one other legend, the two-part Bellator champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, within the remaining of the Featherweight World Grand Prix at Bellator 263.
Like Jones, McKee dominated Pitbull and stopped him with a first-round submission to win the $ 1 million Grand Prix prize and turn out to be Bellator’s new £ 145 champion on the age of 26.
And so a star was born who’s more likely to usher within the new period for Bellator MMA.
McKee accomplished Pitbull’s 4 yr run because the featherweight champion in entrance of his hometown viewers on the Discussion board in Los Angeles. And there was no query who the higher man was, with McKee dominating Pitbull, ending off a person who had by no means been knocked out or submitted in his 17-year MMA profession.
After a short trial lesson, McKee shot a left head kick that ricocheted off Pitbull’s temple. When the champion bought into bother, McKee went straight to work, knocking out Pitbull with a barrage of strikes. Pondering the combat was over, McKee began partying till he realized the referee hadn’t known as the combat. Realizing his shaken opponent’s try and get to his toes, Mckee rushed in and grabbed a decent standing guillotine choke. Pitbull’s physique went limp and McKee realized his dream of changing into the Bellator Champion to crown a dominant run by the Grand Prix by which he completed all 4 of his opponents on the way in which to gold and one million {dollars}.
The combat went eerily much like what Jon Jones and Shogun did a decade in the past. Shogun had simply captured the UFC gentle heavyweight champion by handing his first profession MMA loss to Lyoto Machida and cementing his legacy as one of many biggest blended martial artists on the earth. Jones had a scorching run by the division ending 5 of his final six opponents because the world was able to crown the kid prodigy as the subsequent massive factor. A combat with the Shogun must be a tough take a look at for the rising star; Nevertheless, it was a take a look at that Jones handed with flying colours and have become arguably the best MMA fighter of all time.
McKee joined Bellator as a extremely acclaimed contestant and broke the featherweight class after making his skilled debut in 2015. Twelve finishes out of sixteen wins raised many eyebrows, however whereas McKee was climbing, Pitbull made his identify in Bellator historical past by profitable the featherweight title in 2017. He adopted the light-weight title in 2019 when he grew to become Michael Chandler turned out to turn out to be the light-weight champion. Pitbull went into the event as a favourite, nevertheless it was believed {that a} conflict with McKee within the remaining was a foregone conclusion.
After each of them gained their semi-finals matches, the bout rapidly grew to become one of the anticipated Bellator bouts of all time. And like Jones, McKee made it straightforward to show off a residing legend by getting the job carried out in lower than two minutes.
Whether or not McKee will make a profession like Jones’ is a narrative that can be written one other day, however the brand new champion is already writing a legacy with a star efficiency that can be talked about for a very long time.
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