If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Aaron Jeffery makes his highly anticipated Bellator debut on June 24 at Bellator 282, where he faces another tough Brazilian, Fabio Aguiar.
Ahead of the fight, he put some work in with a former foe.
Jeffery made his way down to Sanford MMA in Florida for this specific camp. It wasn’t particularly in the plans, but while on vacation, the Canadian went to Florida and ended up staying.
“There’s a couple of Canadian guys that train down here, Mark-Andre Barriault and Julien Leblanc… It was after my last fight, and I was actually just gonna go down and kind of see them and vacation for a week. And I was like, f*ck it, I’m already here, I might as well check out the gym. Right? And then I ended up staying for a month. I was only going to be there for a week, and I stayed for a month,” Jeffery told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview.
Jeffery went home for a few weeks and then returned to Florida. And as it turns out, one of Jeffery’s training partners for his Bellator debut was actually former opponent Brendan Allen. Allen and Jeffery fought in 2019 on Dana White’s Contender Series, a fight in which Allen submitted the Canadian in the first round.
With Allen taking away Jeffery’s dream, you would think there might be some animosity, but there was none. In fact, they are now friends.
“It was normal, man. He’s a jokester, and he’s a funny guy. He’s always like, talking sh*t and f*cking with people. So no, it was totally cool,” Jeffery said. “And I’m pretty chill like, I don’t care about lost fights or whatever. And again, he’s like a super chill guy. So no, it was cool.”
“He’s one of the top guys in the world. So, of course I want to train with him and get better. And we got quite a few rounds in while I was there. It was good.”
Jeffery will get to show off what he learned when he faces Aguiar this Friday at Bellator 282.
Watch the rest of our interview with Aaron Jeffery above. Bellator 282 takes place Friday, June 24, 2022 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT.
