On the night of July 31 to August 1, the Bellator 263 tournament will be held in Los Angeles. The main event of the show will be the featherweight Grand Prix final, in which the best fighter of the league, regardless of weight categories, Patricio Freire and a young prospect, damn talented and hungry for victories, AJ McKee, will meet. In addition to the fact that the Mercenary (AJ’s nickname) has never lost, there are very bright victories in his resume. About one of them here we will talk.
On September 28, 2019, the budding McKee entered the cage against an experienced American of Armenian descent and a native of Moscow — Georgy Karakhanyan. Their fight fell on the first round of the Grand Prix, which took place during the Bellator 228 show.
For the featherweight (up to 65.77 kg), both fighters were very tall: AJ’s height is 177 cm, and Karakhanyan’s is 172 cm. In the span of the arms, McKee has an overwhelming advantage — 15 cm. Thus, the picture of the fight was easy to predict — the Madman (Karakhanyan’s nickname) had to shorten the distance and transfer the fight to the stalls, and AJ had to shoot the opponent from a distance, which he basically did.
In general, under certain conditions, the audience could count on an intrigue, but it did not work out at all. Already in the first seconds, McKee threw a test jab into the air with a forward rush to probe the distance. Immediately after that, the Mercenary brought an exact two to Karakhanyan’s jaw. The madman was so shocked that he ended up on canvas, where he was immediately finished off. Referee Frank Trigg stopped the fight 8 seconds after it started.
This lightning victory of McKee was loved by Bellator fans, who in the comments under the video with the knockout note that the fight ended “faster than the video in TikTok”.
Already this weekend, AJ McKee can become the featherweight champion, as well as the best fighter, regardless of weight categories. But in order for this to happen, McKee needs to defeat the most dangerous opponent in his career.