A.J. McKee is still undefeated and is now moving on to the final four of the Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old improved to 16-0 on Saturday with a slick armbar submission of Derek Campos in the co-main event of Bellator 236 at Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu. It was a strong performance overall for McKee, who overcame the toughness of Campos to find the finish in round three (see video above).
It was Campos who called out McKee after the fighters won their respective first round bouts in the featherweight tournament, and he may have regretted it early as he suffered knockdowns in the first and second frames of their bout.
.@AJMcKee101 is letting those hands fly in round two.
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) December 22, 2019
Watch his #FeatherweightWGP bout versus @DC3Stallion LIVE now on @DAZN_USA.#BellatorHawaii #Bellator236 pic.twitter.com/wjOYO8Lc7p
Later, Campos had some success scrambling to top position and scoring points with strikes from top position. That did not deter McKee from coming out aggressively in the third, successfully executing a takedown of his own and throwing up a triangle when Campos again managed to get on top. McKee hunted for Campos’s arm and straightened it out to force the tap.
This was the fifth submission of McKee’s career and he remained undefeated with all of his fights occurring under the Bellator banner. He becomes the first participant in the featherweight grand prix to advance to the semifinals.
Campos (20-10) was submitted for just the third time in his career and the first since losing to Michael Chandler in June 2015.