After stints in the UFC and PFL, and with four wins in his five Bellator outings, Canadian featherweight Jeremy (JBC) Kennedy is finally getting his title shot.
The 31-year-old from Surrey, B.C., last fought in February 2023, defeating Portugal's Pedro (The Game) Carvalho in what was billed as a title challenger eliminator. But champion Patricio (Pitbull) Freire's dance card was full, until now.
"It's my opportunity … And it's a changing of the guard, I feel like," Kennedy said. "I feel like I'm just younger, more athletic, more physical than him. I think I'm going to be better than him everywhere."
Kennedy (19-3-0 with one no-contest) gets his chance to show it Friday when he takes on Freire (35-7-0) on the Bellator Champion Series card in Belfast. The 36-year-old Brazilian is a Bellator icon, having won 23 of 28 times in the promotion since 2010 and had multiple stints as 145-pound champion.
In 2019, Freire knocked out lightweight titleholder Michael Chandler in the first round to hold Bellator titles in two weight classes, eventually vacating the 155-pound crown in October 2021.
The Bellator calendar was disrupted somewhat by Paramount Global's sale of the promotion to the PFL (Professional Fighters League) in November.
The PFL has opted to continue the Bellator brand, launching the Bellator International Champions Series. The plan is to stage eight fight cards each year with each event featuring two championship bouts.
The other marquee bout Friday at SSE Arena pits American Corey (Overtime) Anderson against Northern Ireland’s Karl Moore for the light-heavyweight title vacated when Russian Vadim Nemkov moved to heavyweight.
Canadian middleweight Aaron Jeffery (14-4-0) faces England's Fabian (The Assassin) Edwards (12-3-0) on the card with a title shot reportedly awaiting the winner. Edwards is the younger brother of UFC welterweight champion Leon (Rocky) Edwards.
Freire was originally scheduled to fight Feb. 24 at the PFL Champions vs. Bellator Champions event in Saudi Arabia, only to see PFL titleholder Jesus (El Mudo) Pinedo of Peru withdraw a week before the fight. Brazil's Gabriel Braga, who lost to Pinedo in the PFL featherweight final, was booked as a late replacement but was deemed unfit at the weigh-in to compete.
Freire was then booked to face Kennedy in Belfast, replacing Ireland's James Gallagher who now takes on Brazil's Leandro (Pitbull) Higo on Friday's card.
"I have more to lose than to gain fighting Jeremy Kennedy because my legacy is on the line," Freire said through an interpreter Wednesday. "And I need to maintain that. And because of that I'm not going to give him an inch."
Eric Albarracin, Freire's coach, says his fighter is an unparalleled talent.
"I don't think there's anybody better," said Albarracin, "He's right up there with (UFC heavyweight and former light-heavyweight champion) Jon Jones, right up there on GOAT Mountain."
"I am Bellator," Freire said in English.
Freire has not defended the 145-pound belt since October 2022.
Since then, the Brazilian defeated Japan's Kleber Koike Erbst in a non-title bout on a Bellator vs. Rizin card in December 2022, lost to Bellator bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis last June and was knocked out by Rizin featherweight titleholder Chihiro Suzuki some six weeks later in a short-notice fight contested at a catchweight of 154 pounds.
Fighting runs in the family. Freire's older brother, Patricky (Pitbull) Freire is a former Bellator lightweight champion.
Kennedy, who at five foot 11 is five inches taller than Patricio Freire, has lost only once in his last eight bouts. He is now based in Las Vegas, where he moved to during the pandemic to train at Xtreme Couture.
Kennedy went 3-1-0 in the UFC, winning his first three fights before being stopped by Australia's Alexander (The Great) Volkanovski at UFC 221 in February 2018. Volkanovski went on to win and lose the UFC featherweight title.
Kennedy had won all 11 pro fights before running into Volkanovski. After the UFC, Kennedy went 2-1-0 with one no-contest in the PFL.
He marks each victory by adding a stripe to a tattoo on his side and says he is planning some special ink to celebrate winning the title.
And he sees big things ahead
"I just think the (MMA) landscape is way more diverse now," he said, referencing the Bellator-PFL sale. "And the biggest thing for me is just winning this fight and winning this belt. Then I think the doors blow just wide open."
The next Bellator Champions Series card is slated for May 17 in Paris with other 2024 shows scheduled for Dublin, San Diego, London, Chicago and a return to Paris. A location for the Dec. 31 finale has yet to be announced.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2024
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
