Watch the intense battle between Patricio "Pitbull" Freire and Jeremy Kennedy in this full fight replay! Two elite featherweights clash in a high-stakes showdown—don’t miss the knockout power, grappling exchanges, and non-stop action.
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00:00Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's contests have been regulated by the Mohegan Tribe, Department of Athletic Regulation, Chairman James Gessler, Supervising Cainside Michael Mazzulli.
00:11And now it's time for our co-main event of the evening. Five rounds of action for the Bellator Featherweight Championship.
00:30Introducing first, the challenger, fighting out of the blue corner. He's a BJJ specialist and stands 5 feet 11 inches tall.
00:39He weighed in officially at 145 pounds and holds a record of 19 wins, 3 losses and 1 no contest.
00:48Fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada, by way of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, Shuri J.C. Kennedy.
01:00And the champion fighting out of the red corner. He is an MMA specialist and stands 5 feet 6 inches tall.
01:13He weighed in officially at 145 pounds and in his 42-fight career has earned a record of 35 victories and 7 defeats.
01:27Fighting out of Natal, Rio Grande, or Norte, Brazil.
01:31He is the reigning, defending, and undisputed. Welcome for the win, champion, Patricio Pitbull.
01:51Your referee in charge, Kevin Macdonald.
01:55Pitbull is in the black. Kennedy is in the white.
01:58You saw Patricio Pitbull, his brother, in the corner.
02:03Surprised him today.
02:05Love it.
02:05Flew in hours ago.
02:07Said, yeah, I didn't want to miss this.
02:09What a good little bump to his confidence that would have been to see his brother.
02:15Five five-minute rounds.
02:17Let's go.
02:17For Featherweight Gold.
02:19Fully expect Pitbull to just stand his ground as much as he can here.
02:34As soon as Kennedy starts to throw punches, I'm thinking Pitbull's going to start slipping his head off to the sides
02:39and coming over the top and around the sides with those heavy, heavy hands.
02:49There it is.
02:51You can just see both of these guys.
02:55They're wound so tightly waiting for the fight to start.
02:58Good low kick from Patricio.
03:04That was right above the ankle.
03:05That was really low.
03:08A good line of attack, though, for Pitbull to damage that lead leg.
03:12You can see how wide the stance of Kennedy is.
03:15There's another.
03:16Yeah, you know, it leaves that lead leg vulnerable.
03:18You can't move it away as quickly as, say, we were seeing Gallagher dragging his lead leg back.
03:22Very difficult to do with a long stance.
03:24Third in a row there for Patricio.
03:34Haven't seen those calf kicks really employed on the card so far tonight,
03:39but Patricio Pitbull has been the weapon of choice early.
03:46Ideal for him as well.
03:48You know, the other benefit to deadening the lead leg is that when your opponent steps into range to strike,
03:52they can't get out of range quite as quickly.
03:55If you're looking to slip and counter, you want someone to land heavy on that lead leg
04:01and not be able to get out of the way of the counter punch that you've thrown.
04:06Inside kick there from Kennedy.
04:10Once again, Pitbull goes back to the lead leg.
04:12This is clearly the right weight class for Pitbull as well.
04:27Another hard calf kick.
04:28We start to see bruising on that lead leg of Kennedy.
04:30If you've been paying attention to the sport the last few years,
04:37you know that anywhere from four to ten of those can really be the difference maker in a fight.
04:42He's already landed four.
04:43There's the red corner of Pitbull, for those who speak Portuguese.
04:58Careful with that straight of his.
05:03Jack running his face.
05:05I want a little bit more movement, Pitbull.
05:07Yeah, a little bit more movement.
05:09He's going to kick.
05:10Be careful.
05:11Let's start level changing.
05:14Good combination from Kennedy.
05:15Spin around, spin around, spin around.
05:17After the low kick again.
05:25Kennedy has to find a solution to that calf kick problem.
05:28He can't just keep eating them.
05:30As you said, you know, two, three, four of those kicks,
05:32and it can change the face of the fight entirely,
05:35as we've seen many times in the past.
05:37Returns a calf kick there.
05:38Not a bad idea.
05:41You can see now, he's already reacting to it differently.
05:44He's starting to lift his lead leg.
05:45He's checking to move out of the way of his lead leg kicks.
05:49Interesting.
05:50Pitbull got him to retreat all the way back towards the fence,
05:52but then pulled back.
05:53Now Kennedy.
05:55Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.
05:57Head clash.
05:58Head clash.
05:59Head butt.
06:00Neutral.
06:01Over here.
06:02Like it hits him right in the mouth.
06:03Hey, over here.
06:07Not in your corner.
06:08Not in your corner.
06:09Time, right?
06:10Stay with me.
06:12Let me see your mouth.
06:13Let's keep going.
06:15Yeah, I'm just looking.
06:15Let me see your mouth if there's any damage.
06:17Okay, I don't see any cuts.
06:19I don't see anything like that.
06:20Oh, it's just a small bump.
06:21Stay there for me.
06:22You ready on time?
06:23The both of the impact went to the chest.
06:25Listen, be careful when you come in.
06:26Came in with a head clash, all right?
06:28Okay.
06:30Ready time?
06:31All right, guys, let's keep it clean, all right?
06:32Come on.
06:34Back to the action with just over a minute in round one.
06:37Any additional time ticking away on the clock is not good for that lead leg of Kennedy.
06:49That's definitely going to feel worse tomorrow than it does now.
06:51The longer you have that damage, the slower and the heavier the leg feels.
06:58I remember flying home after taking some low kicks, and it's the worst feeling.
07:04And those little breaks, it just prolongs this damage that's sitting on the leg.
07:10And you know Pitbull's going to pick his shots.
07:12He's not going to be in a hurry.
07:13He knows 25-minute fights like the back of his hand.
07:21Continuing to attack that lead leg.
07:24Saw Pitbull with a two-punch combination earlier as well.
07:27The hook did land.
07:31With a long-time featherweight champ, multiple-time featherweight champ here in Bellator.
07:36Biding his time.
07:38Good left jab from Kennedy.
07:41A few times now, Pitbull has postured that overhand right.
07:44It looks like he's trying to wait for Kennedy to throw his jab
07:47and then come over the top with the counter right hand.
07:50Look at the redness on that lead leg of Kennedy.
07:52It looks so sore.
07:54On the inside as well.
07:55Up to this point, they've been completely unanswered,
07:59which means that there's no reason why Pitbull can't keep throwing those calf kicks
08:02and throw them harder as well if he feels like he's not going to get countered.
08:06Another calf kick to open the action in round two from Pitbull.
08:22Big John, you heard the way that Nick Sick was cornering Kennedy there.
08:26He eats another calf kick.
08:27Round one is over.
08:29What do you think is happening here in round two?
08:30You know, the first round was slow and you've got to figure in a championship fight,
08:35it's going to be like that.
08:36But that was a classic Patricio Pitbull opening round.
08:39He kept the center of the cage most of the time.
08:43Kennedy needs to figure out, I have to move him backwards.
08:46That was Patricio's round, so Kennedy is down one round now.
08:49More caution here in round two.
08:59A lot of respect being shown between these two featherweights.
09:02But it is a 25-minute fight.
09:08Kennedy offers the jab after eating another calf kick.
09:11He is sinking that calf kick in every single time.
09:15I'll say this, Kennedy's, he's taking the calf kicks,
09:18but we have seen fewer do worse damage in other fights.
09:22So he's, he's managing it pretty well considering how many he's eaten, Leo.
09:26Yeah, it looks, it looks very sore.
09:28He needs to start checking it.
09:30Eric's setting these in movement in and out and using his jab
09:32and setting up shots with more feints.
09:35He landed one of his own and you saw it affect the balance of Patricio.
09:41Now some combinations from Kennedy.
09:43There's that jab you asked for, Dan Hardy.
09:46Yeah, he's got to be cautious though
09:47because Pitbull's going to try and come over the top.
09:53Oh, stiff combination again.
09:56He's got Pitbull moving backwards
09:58just like Big John McCarthy recommended.
10:02Nice jab.
10:05Pitbull offers a combination back.
10:11Left hook, straight right.
10:12Kennedy was able to evade the significant damage there.
10:16That was another good jab.
10:17You can tell by the way that Kennedy responds
10:19when Pitbull starts to attack
10:21that he's got a lot of respect for the power
10:23coming up in his direction.
10:25That he was that posturing right hand again.
10:27For some reason, Pitbull pulled it a little short.
10:29Nice jab.
10:29Nice jab.
10:29Nice jab.
10:29Nice jab.
10:29Nice jab.
10:29Nice jab.
10:29Nice jab.
10:30Nice jab.
10:30Nice jab.
10:30Nice jab.
10:30Nice jab.
10:31Nice jab.
10:31Nice jab.
10:31Nice jab.
10:31Nice jab.
10:32Nice jab.
10:32Nice jab.
10:32Nice jab.
10:33Nice jab.
10:33Nice jab.
10:34Nice jab.
10:35Nice jab.
10:36Nice jab.
10:37Nice jab.
10:38Nice jab.
10:39Nice jab.
10:40Nice jab.
10:40Nice jab.
10:41AJ McKee still watching on with us.
10:42Right hand just landed for Pitbull.
10:44We're halfway through round number two.
10:47What do you think so far, AJ?
10:48I think it's a great fight thus far.
10:52I think it's a great fight thus far.
10:54Patricio's tearing that lead leg up, which is going to really affect him in the later rounds.
10:58So Kennedy needs to start capitalizing on countering while taking those leg kicks and really throwing
11:04and letting his hands go.
11:05If not, he's got to start checking.
11:07Kennedy's starting to pick his pace up a bit more here.
11:12We're starting to see a few more straight strikes and he's not really over committing, which I like as well.
11:18I would like him to use those as counters to the calf kick.
11:21See if he can knock Pitbull off balance a little more because given the fact that Pitbull is shorter than Kennedy,
11:28he has to stay a lot closer to Kennedy to land the kick.
11:31The redness on that leg is horrendous.
11:34Kennedy's getting the hands going though.
11:36Nice.
11:37Go, go.
11:38There you go.
11:39Hit that takedown attempt behind a jab and here's the guillotine posture from Pitbull.
11:50Takedown successful for Kennedy.
11:52One minute left to work in round two.
11:57Good work by Pitbull getting his knee back underneath him.
12:00You can see his rapid on his guillotine here as well, but he has to be cautious when he's choosing to attack the guillotine
12:06because he may end up on his back without a submission.
12:12Good control here by Kennedy.
12:14He'll try and remove that base leg.
12:17Pitbull keeping his knuckles on the floor so there are no kicks or knees to the head.
12:25Back to his feet.
12:27Jeremy's definitely picked up the pace of this round.
12:33It will be me.
12:34It will be me.
12:37The last 20 seconds coming up here.
12:39First two rounds of a world title fight.
12:46Blow blow.
12:49Brief pause.
12:50We do have instant replay here in Belfast so officials looking at every one of these inadvertent fouls.
13:07to make sure they are indeed fouls.
13:08The thing with the cup shot, as you know, Dan, is even if it doesn't land direct, the grazing of the lower leg or the shin portion of the leg still does impact the cup.
13:22No doubt.
13:23I was actually having this conversation with the commission earlier today and we were discussing cup shots, growing shots, and sometimes it could even land on the belt line and pull the shorts out of position, which then pulls the cup out of position.
13:35And you've got to imagine inside that cup is some very important stuff that you don't really want moving around too much.
13:54Pitbull taking his time to recover here.
13:58Pitbull taking his time to recover here.
14:03Has up to five minutes.
14:22So we've got, we've got what, 10, 12 seconds left in this round.
14:25I wonder how long Pitbull is going to take at these five minutes.
14:31It looks like he's gathering himself here, but he does look like he's uncomfortable.
14:38Hey, where are we at on the tag?
14:40Two minutes down, three to go.
14:44Let's see what John McCarthy's got to say about that.
14:46Big John.
14:48You've officiated these exact moments in fights and, I mean, he's got five minutes.
14:52He's got five minutes.
14:53Is it the right move to take all five?
14:55Yes, he is.
14:56If you're Patricio Pitbull, you're doing the right thing because if you, let's be honest about this round.
15:01Jeremy Kennedy is winning this round.
15:03The momentum has switched.
15:05So all of this time that he's taking will start to take some of that momentum away from Jeremy Kennedy.
15:12When you're taking a look at this 12 seconds, he might come out real slow in it.
15:15But that one minute more, you've got five minutes he can go, one minute, six minutes of rest.
15:21And it's a change of momentum.
15:23It's a smart move by a champion fighter.
15:27Great insight from Big John McCarthy.
15:29Here's the reset and the restart.
15:31Touch of the gloves.
15:33Final 12 seconds.
15:34Kennedy wings a high kick.
15:38Start of round three.
15:55Possible five.
15:56Featherweight title fight.
15:58Bellator champion series, Belfast.
16:04Patricio Pitbull's in the black.
16:05Sorry, Dan.
16:06I was just about to say the other thing that you mentioned a little earlier, Sean, is that he's not responding to those low kicks.
16:13It may potentially be because it's not damaging him as much as we potentially think it is.
16:17It looks bad, but we can't feel the leg of Kennedy and he might feel confident that he can keep taking those kicks.
16:25There was another low kick.
16:27Very low on the target area.
16:30The strike zone, so to speak.
16:32Overhand right.
16:33Finally sneaks around the guard partially for Pitbull.
16:40Kennedy has now started to bank some capped kicks of his own.
16:43Yeah, he's getting more confidence now.
16:45I think it would probably make Pitbull's life a little easier if Kennedy opened up a bit more as well.
16:52It seems like Pitbull is waiting for Kennedy.
16:54And given the fact that Kennedy's being very tentative, at least in the first round and at the opening of this third round,
17:00it's meaning that Pitbull's up into really kind of search for his individual shots to land.
17:06Yeah, Pitbull's waiting for Jeremy to throw the counter, but Jeremy hasn't given him too much.
17:11I think Kennedy knows that a counter's coming if he lunges in too hard.
17:16Case in point right there.
17:18Good jab though from Kennedy.
17:21Oh!
17:22Stumbles Pitbull and here's the combination!
17:26Kennedy smothers his own punches, goes chest to chest.
17:29We have a cut on the forehead of Pitbull as well.
17:32Seeing some blood on the shoulder.
17:34Looks like it's in the hairline.
17:36Maybe not problematic, but certainly a confidence booster for the challenger.
17:41Fighting hard for this takedown, but Pitbull's so difficult to takedown.
17:53So difficult to get around those underhooks that he's got.
17:56Three minutes left here in the third round.
18:00Oh, another short elbow to the cheekbone and again.
18:13Jeremy Kennedy dictating this fight at the moment.
18:16This blood as well is going to make these situations a bit more fluid as well.
18:25Pardon the pun.
18:26But any time anybody gets caught in a head control position,
18:30there's going to be a bit more lubrication there for them to move and slide.
18:35Yeah, and the blood can get in your eyes.
18:37I've been there, you can hardly see.
18:39And Pitbull will be happy that Jeremy's made him bleed.
18:44Nice sequence of short elbows again there from Kennedy.
18:47Confidence is definitely on the rise.
18:49Footwork for Pitbull.
18:51Gets himself out of that controlled position against the cage.
18:55Look at the damage on the calf now for Pitbull.
19:01And that looks like it's in the right position.
19:03That looks like it's on the right target.
19:05You can see swelling on the front side of the calf.
19:08Oh, nice knee to the midsection.
19:10Oh, but he ate a right hand.
19:13Pitbull, not the type of guy you can get too much confidence against
19:17because one strike can really change things.
19:22It's amazing how quickly those lumps have come up on the lead leg of Pitbull.
19:26Let's go!
19:29Another one, let's go!
19:30Good jab to the body.
19:31Jumping across.
19:32Oh, the right hand.
19:33That's it!
19:34That's it!
19:35Oh, legs are gone!
19:36Legs are gone!
19:37Kennedy wobbled.
19:38Pitbull hammering away.
19:39Good knees.
19:40Patricio Pitbull pouring it on with a minute left in round three.
19:44Jeremy Kennedy surviving at hell.
19:45Oh, this is it!
19:46This is it!
19:47This is it!
19:48Pitbull with the fire!
19:49Pitbull is not going anywhere!
19:50Pitbull is not going anywhere!
19:51Referee Cameron McDonald calls a halt to the action at four minutes and seven seconds of round number two.
19:56The Clavier winner via TKO and still, the Bellator fellowweight champion, Patricio Pitbull!
20:21Pete Murray, CEO of Professional Fighters League and now, of course, Bellator Champion Series as well.
20:40Wraps the belt around Patricio Pitbull.
20:42Who's next?
20:43We want them super fights!
20:44Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here with your featherweight champion of the world, Patricio Pitbull.
20:48My friend, that was a slow starting fight, but as soon as you released your punches, it was game over.
20:55He's a very good opponent.
20:57He's very tough.
20:58He almost took me in that left hand.
21:02I think I don't remember very well, but I just want to say only Jesus Christ can tell you what happened to me this week.
21:11I was without walking and I pray and God, if I have to do my job, please let me fight.
21:20But the victory is to you.
21:21Thank you very much.
21:22You've already achieved so much in your career.
21:26What else is there left for you to achieve?
21:28What would you like to achieve before you finally hang up your gloves?
21:31And I'm hoping you've got many more fights left to come.
21:33You know, I already beat the rising champion, Klaibber Koic.
21:37I want to beat the PFL champion and the next one is going to beat the 145 champion for UFC.
21:45Let's go.
21:46Let's do that.
21:47Let's see who is the best 145 on the planet.
21:50Talk to me about this performance.
21:53Was there a game plan coming in here?
21:54Did you have an idea of how you were going to deal with Kennedy and what he was going to bring to the table?
21:59You know, he's very long.
22:01He's a complicated wrestler and a very good jiu-jitsu.
22:05But I am the best complete fighter on the planet and be ready for everything.
22:11And we're going to get some more fights out of you, right?
22:14You're not done yet.
22:15Not done yet.
22:17Aro Pico, you are the next.
22:20Ladies and gentlemen, your featherweight fellow tour champion of the world, Patricio Pitbull.