Bellator 197’s Justin Lawrence is thrilled with the opportunity to play spoiler against A.J. McKee on Friday night.
Bellator 197’s co-main event features up-and-coming star A.J. McKee, an undefeated featherweight training under his father’s watchful eye at Team Bodyshop. McKee has been the talk of the town in Bellator over the past year – and Justin Lawrence would very much like to put a stop to that on Friday night in St. Charles, MO.
Speaking to the media, including Cageside Press, ahead of Friday’s event, Lawrence was openly excited to have a big fight, and be fighting at home. “Positive energy, positive vibes,” is how he described the feeling. “I can’t be more excited for this fight,” he continued. “I’ve been asking for this kid for a long time. I’ve been working super hard in the gym since November. I had a fight in January, I was healthy right out of that fight, three round fight, so I felt it, quick turnaround, came back, I can’t be more happy with this.”
McKee is 10-0, with all ten of those fights coming under the Bellator banner. Lawrence, meanwhile, is 11-4, but will represent one of McKee’s toughest tests to date. Arguably the toughest. He’s also on a two fight win streak in Bellator, and a win over McKee would definitely turn some heads. He’s not feeling any extra pressure, with a co-main event fight right at home — “Fight Pressure’s the same where ever you go, you’re getting in a fist fight,” he explained. “But hey, I’d rather be in my back yard than on foreign soil.”
He also has a definite plan for how he wants to end things against McKee.
“I want him to just give up. I want him to not answer the bell,” he said. “At the end of the day, I just want him to not get off that stool.”
You can check out more with Justin Lawrence in the video above, courtesy of Cageside Press’ Mike Straus. Bellator 197 takes place at the Family Arena in St. Charles, MO Friday night. The main card airs live and free on the Paramount Network.
