Bellator 263 live blog: Patricio Pitbull vs. A.J. McKee

This is the Bellator 263 live blog for Patricio Pitbull vs. A.J. McKee, the featherweight headliner for Saturday’s fight card at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif.

The 145-pound title fight is one of the most highly anticipated bouts in recent Bellator history, a meeting between the undefeated phenom A.J. McKee and two-division champion Patricio Freire, who defends the featherweight title he brought into the Bellator featherweight grand prix. The 16-man competition started in September 2019, and Pitbull and McKee each won three bouts to punch their tickets to the finals; Freire outpointed then-bantamweight champ Juan Archuleta before stopping Pedro Carvalho and Emmanuel Sanchez, while McKee earned stoppages of Georgi Karakhanyan, Derek Campos and Darrion Caldwell.

Pitbull is the No. 3 ranked featherweight in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, while McKee is No. 6; Pitbull is also the No. 9 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Check out the Bellator 263 live blog.