Bellator featherweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire will take on Jeremy Kennedy in Belfast on March 22.
𝙋𝙄𝙏𝘽𝙐𝙇𝙇 𝙄𝙎 𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙏𝙊 𝘽𝙀𝙇𝙁𝘼𝙎𝙏! 👀
One of the greatest featherweights to grace the sport, Patricio Pitbull will be defending his Bellator Featherweight Title on short notice against number one contender Jeremy Kennedy at #BellatorBelfast! 🔥… pic.twitter.com/r4PJ3Mi2Vj
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) February 29, 2024
The first Bellator Champions Series card under the PFL umbrella was just given some major star power as it was announced Thursday morning that featherweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire will now take on top contender Jeremy Kennedy in the co-main event.
Freire gets the booking following his scrapped fight against Gabriel Braga last week. On the morning of weigh ins, Freire made weight but it was announced later in the afternoon that Braga was “unable to compete”. Notably, Braga was replacing an injured Jesus Pinedo who was forced to withdraw from the fight a week prior due to suffering an injury. Freire enters the bout as the most accomplished champion in Bellator history but enters on a two fight skid following an unsuccessful bid to claim the bantamweight title and a short notice bout on the last Bellator x RIZIN event.
Jeremy Kennedy enters as the top contender in the men’s featherweight division for Bellator following victories over Emmanuel Sanchez, Aaron Pico, and Pedro Carvalho. Holding a 19-3 record, Kennedy is also a PFL veteran and two of the three losses in his career have come to UFC great Alexander Volkanovski and top prospect Adam Borics. Kennedy last fought in February of last year.
Kennedy was originally scheduled to take on Irish standout James Gallagher on the card. Per the same release, Gallagher will now fight Brazilian contender Leandro Higo.
The March 22 event is set to be the first event for the promotion under the larger PFL umbrella and will mark Bellator’s return to airing on DAZN.
