For once in a MMA lifetime, the stars have aligned, and fans have the Featherweight Grand Prix finale they wanted at Bellator 263.
When it comes to tournaments, quite frankly, match-ups are a crap-shoot. That’s what makes them fun, but when tantalizing pairings go up in a puff of smoke, it can become incredibly frustrating. Look no further than the fight that wasn’t in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix a decade or so ago: Fedor Emelianenko and Alistair Overeem were both in the tournament, but they never did face off. Neither even went to the finale, though for wildly different reasons.
Bellator 263 has avoided such peril. The fight we all wanted, A.J. McKee against double-champ Patricio Pitbull, is exactly the fight we’re getting on Saturday night in L.A. One final stop came first, Friday morning’s weigh-in. After that, just one more sleep til fight night.
Check below for full results from Friday’s Bellator 263 weigh-in.
Bellator 263: Pitbull vs. McKee Weigh-In Results
Main Card
Featherweight: Patrício Freire (c) (144.5) vs. A. J. McKee (145)* – for the Bellator featherweight championship/grand prix finale
Featherweight: Mads Burnell (145.5) vs. Emmanuel Sanchez (145.3)
Lightweight: Usman Nurmagomedov (155.3) vs. Manny Muro (156)
Lightweight: Brent Primus (155.2) vs. Islam Mamedov (154.9)
Catchweight (160lb): Goiti Yamauchi (155.5) vs. Chris Gonzalez (155.2)
Preliminary card
Women’s Flyweight: Vanessa Porto (125.6) vs. Ilara Joanne (125.2)
Catchweight (150lb): Gadzhi Rabadanov (149) vs. Daniel Carey (149.1)
Featherweight: Khasan Magomedsharipov (144.6) vs. Jonathan Quiroz (146)
Catchweight (180lb): Johnny Cisneros (179.2) vs. Joshua Jones (179.6)
Lightweight: Georgi Karakhanyan (155.6) vs. Kiefer Crosbie (155.9)
Bantamweight: Brian Moore (135.8) vs. Jordan Winski (135.6)
Catchweight (190lb): Justin Barry (N/A)** vs. Daniel Compton (189.6)
* McKee weighed in at 145.2lbs on his first attempt, had 90 minutes to continue cutting weight. McKee weighed in roughly 30 minutes later at 145lbs, successfully making championship weight.
** Justin Barry did not pass medicals, did not weigh in. His fight against Daniel Compton has been removed from the Bellator 263 card. Compton will be paid his show money
