A.J. McKee's confidence soaring before Patricio 'Pitbull' showdown: 'What's there to be scared of?'
LAKEWOOD, Calif. – A.J. McKee thinks he already has Bellator dual champion Patricio Freire beat.
McKee (17-0 MMA, 17-0 BMMA) will challenge Freire (20-5 MMA, 12-4 BMMA) for the featherweight title later this summer in what is one of the most highly anticipated fights in Bellator history.
Undefeated McKee punched his ticket to the grand prix final with a first-round submission of Darrion Caldwell at Bellator 253, while “Pitbull” cemented his spot as champion with a quick submission of his own vs. Emmanuel Sanchez earlier this month at Bellator 255.
Following Freire’s win over Sanchez, McKee stepped into the cage to square off with the champion in what was an intense staredown. McKee thinks he’s already in the champion’s head and expects that to play a factor in their fight.
“He broke,” McKee told MMA Junkie. “I don’t ever lose a staredown. The staredown is the fight, so it shows me how the fight is gonna go, how bad do you want it. He broke. He blinked. He looked away. That tells me all I need to know right there, so when we get in that cage, I’m going to break you because I already broke you once.”
McKee will be entering the first five-round fight of his career. Freire, on the other hand, has gone the full 25 minutes on numerous occasions and thinks McKee will be scared ahead of his first championship fight.
When asked his thoughts on Freire’s comments, McKee said he’s just projecting.
“I’m undefeated. What’s there to be scared of?” McKee said. “I’ve called your name since I’ve first stepped in your cage. You’ve been a champion since I first stepped foot in that cage. I’ve called your name since Day 1. I fear no man, I’ll tell you that much.”
He continued, “Maybe he’s trying to portray the feelings that he has within himself onto me, but at the end of the day, I just gotta keep focusing on myself, stay in this gym, stay grinding with my boys and evolving because iron sharpens iron.”
A noticeable size difference between the two, McKee will enter the fight with a 5-inch height advantage as well as a whopping 8-inch reach advantage,\ that he’s confident will play in his favor.
“It should look like the Pat Curran fight all over again,” McKee said. “Pat Curran’s bigger, a little bit longer. If he couldn’t get near me, then why should he? I watched the Straus fight. That left hand is invisible to him; he don’t see it. It sat him on his ass, so I just take little things from each fight, and I add those to my arsenal. What works against him, what doesn’t work and then I use my advantages. If my advantages aren’t working, then I go to the other tools that I’ve learned with.
“For him, stay long, pick him apart, keep the volume. I don’t think anybody really has volume like mine. Sanchez does, but like I said, he’s a pillow puncher. He don’t punch hard, so me punching hard with that volume, I think it’s a really big threat for him, and I can’t wait to sit him on his ass a couple of times.”
Though Freire has looked unstoppable of late, McKee was simple yet concise with his prediction. He doesn’t see the fight going into the championship rounds and expects to put Freire away early.
“Knockout,” McKee said. “I give it Round 2 at the most. I feel after about a minute-and-a-half into the first, he’s going to start to get desperate, and he’s gonna come at me, and that’s when he’s gonna make a mistake, and it’s gonna look like Aldo vs. McGregor all over.”
