A.J. McKee vs. Daniel Crawford Added to Bellator: Salute the Troops

A.J. McKee (AJ McKee) Bellator MMA
AJ McKee. Credit: Mike McClory/Cageside Press

Team Bodyshop’s A.J. McKee returns to action next month, looking for his thirteenth straight win under the Bellator MMA banner against Daniel Crawford.

A.J. McKee will look to extended his record-setting win streak in Bellator once again next month. A Bellator MMA official confirmed to Cageside Press that McKee will face Daniel Crawford at Bellator: Salute the Troops in Hawaii this December. MMA Junkie was first to report the news.

McKee (12-0) has spent his entire professional career with Bellator, notching his twelfth win in September at Bellator 205. That saw the prospect complete a first round knockout of John Macapa in just over a minute. Prior to the fight, McKee told Cageside Press that he was open to “taking as many stepping stones as Bellator feels I need until they feel that I’m ready” for a title shot. That said, McKee insisted he was very much ready for a crack at gold. However, with Patricio Pitbull defending the title against Emmanuel Sanchez at Bellator 209 later this month, McKee with have to wait at least a little longer.

That means a big opportunity for Daniel Crawford. The English fighter had a four-fight winning streak snapped at Bellator 200, his promotional debut with the organization. Crawford (10-2) is a BAMMA veteran, however, and a former featherweight champion in that promotion.

Bellator: Salute the Troops takes place December 14 at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Michael Chandler meets lightweight champ Brent Primus in a rematch for the 155lb title in the main event. The card takes place a day before Bellator 213, also in Hawaii, where Ilima-Lei Macfarlane will defend her women’s flyweight title against Valerie Letourneau.