Bellator 302 Update: Patricio Freire-Jeremy Kennedy Title Fight Among 4 Bouts Added

𝙋𝙄𝙏𝘽𝙐𝙇𝙇 𝙄𝙎 𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙏𝙊 𝘽𝙀𝙇𝙁𝘼𝙎𝙏! 👀

One of the greatest featherweights to grace the sport, Patricio Pitbull will be defending his Bellator Featherweight Title on short notice against number one contender Jeremy Kennedy at #BellatorBelfast! 🔥… pic.twitter.com/r4PJ3Mi2Vj

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) February 29, 2024

Bellator MMA is adding one more championship collision to its upcoming show across the pond.

The promotion announced on Thursday in a release that Patricio Freire (35-7) would be putting his featherweight strap on the line against Jeremy Kennedy (19-3, 1 NC) at Bellator 302. Kennedy was initially slated to face James Gallagher, but Bellator opted to slot him into a title tilt and rebook Gallagher against Leandro Higo. Two additional prelims were added to complete the March 22 slate that no longer includes Sinead Kavanagh due to her foe, Leah McCourt, falling out from injury.

Freire will return to 145 pounds after a brief joyride down to bantamweight and then up to lightweight in 2023. The pound-for-pound talent was originally booked against Jesus Pinedo as part of the PFL vs. Bellator Champs card in February and then was expected to fight Gabriel Braga on that card again to represent team Bellator against Professional Fighters League—and even without his help, Bellator fighters crushed their PFL counterparts with a final score of five to one. Freire is looking for his first win since 2022 when he defeated then-Rizin Fighting Federation beltholder Kleber Koike Erbst.

Kennedy gets a crack at gold on the heels of a three-fight win streak that includes decisions over Emmanuel Sanchez and Pedro Carvalho and a TKO due to injury against Aaron Pico in 2022. Since debuting with the organization in 2020, the well-traveled Canadian has only lost once, falling short on the scorecards to Adam Borics. “JBC” is currently one of a small number of fighters throughout MMA history to compete at least four times under the Bellator, PFL and Ultimate Fighting Championship during their careers.

Having shifted gears to 145 pounds, Ireland’s Gallagher (12-2) will square off with Higo (22-6) in what has become a grudge match. The two were previously booked against one another in 2023, but it fell through when Gallagher withdrew for undisclosed reasons. “The Strabanimal” bounced back from his first career submission defeat—a guillotine to future champ Patrick Mix—by taking a split decision over James Gonzalez up in weight. Like his foe, Higo rebounded from a loss with a statement performance against Nikita Mikhailov in 2023.

Additionally, Bellator matched Steven Hill (7-0) against Jordan Newman (6-0) in a middleweight pairing of promising unbeaten fighters age 30 or younger. It is also pairing up once-beaten light heavyweights for a chance to climb the 205-pound rankings as Luke Trainer (7-1) faces off against Grant Neal (9-1) in a contest that will display a significant height disparity.

Bellator 302 goes down at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on March 22, with a vacant light heavyweight championship headliner on tap as Corey Anderson vies for the strap against Karl Moore. In addition to the newly announced Freire-Kennedy co-headliner, the main card will feature a middleweight scrap pitting Fabian Edwards against Aaron Jeffery, the aforementioned Gallagher vs. Higo and lightweights Tim Wilde vs. Manoel Sousa.