Jeremy Kennedy – Page 2 – Syndication Server

James Gallagher vs. Jeremy Kennedy joins Bellator 302 lineup in Belfast

James Gallagher will return on home soil.

[autotag]James Gallagher[/autotag] will return on home soil.

Gallagher (12-2 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) meets [autotag]Jeremy Kennedy[/autotag] (19-3 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) in a featherweight bout at Bellator 302 March 22 in Belfast in Northern Ireland at SSE Arena.

A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie following an initial report from Severe MMA.

Gallagher returned for the first time since a November 2021 loss to current bantamweight champion Patchy Mix when he edged out James Gonzalez this past August at Bellator 298 – his first win since October 2020. He has won five of his past six.

Canada’s Kennedy is on a three-fight winning streak. The 31-year-old UFC alum most recently defeated Pedro Carvalho by unanimous decision at Bellator 291.

The latest Bellator 302 lineup includes:

Corey Anderson vs. Karl Moore – for vacant light heavyweight title
Leah McCourt vs. Sinead Kavanagh
James Gallagher vs. Jeremy Kennedy

Aaron Pico starting to give up hope for a Jeremy Kennedy rematch in PFL

Aaron Pico would love the gift of a rematch this holiday season, but he’s not getting his hopes up that Santa will come through.

[autotag]Aaron Pico[/autotag] would love the gift of a rematch this holiday season, but he’s not getting his hopes up that Santa will come through.

Pico (12-4 MMA, 12-4 BMMA) had a six-fight winning streak snapped in 2022 when a shoulder injury at Bellator 286 led to a TKO after the first round against [autotag]Jeremy Kennedy[/autotag] (19-3 MMA, 4-1 BMMA). Because of that unique circumstance, Pico wants to run it back – and says Kennedy is being elusive about it.

“I want to make something clear: I’ve asked to fight Kennedy so many times,” Pico recently told MMA Junkie Radio. “Him and I have the same manager, Ali (Abdelaziz). … I’ve asked: ‘I want to fight a rematch with Kennedy. That wasn’t a clean win.’ I’ve said it time and time again. But you know who doesn’t want that fight is Kennedy. He doesn’t want that.”

Pico, a standout high school wrestler who skipped the college wrestling scene to move straight into MMA, dislocated his shoulder at Bellator 286, and though he was willing to fight with it into the second round, the bout was called off.

Pico said then-Bellator president Scott Coker said the nature of the loss wouldn’t be counted against him.

“That night when I was in the hospital, I got a call from Scott Coker. He said, ‘Hey, that win didn’t count for Kennedy. I don’t even count that. You were worried. You wanted to fight. But I want to run that fight back ASAP.’ I said, ‘You got it, boss. I want that fight as bad as you do.'”

Instead, once he was recovered, Pico said he started hearing no.

“I had the surgery. I’m calling for the fight, asking Ali: ‘No, no, no. You have to fight (James Gonzalez).’ OK. I fight him. I win. I said, ‘OK, I want to fight Kennedy.’

‘Now you’ve got to fight Pedro Carvalho.’ I beat Pedro Carvalho. I said, ‘OK, I’m ready to fight Kennedy.’ Now Kennedy is going to fight for the championship, so I really don’t know what’s going on. Then the rankings come out. I’m above Kennedy, so explain that to me.”

Pico implied Kennedy’s own win over Carvalho 10 months ago in Dublin had him in line to fight champion Patricio Freire, which would explain not jumping at the chance to fight Pico again – and possibly lose and fall out of the immediate title race.

But regardless, Pico said he recognizes he’s in the prime time to be busy in the sport.

“I haven’t really heard anything for PFL, just in Bellator,” he said. “I believe I should fight for the title, and just because you believe it doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily going to happen. But I can say I’m not sitting at my house whining or complaining. I’m in the gym getting better. I’m getting better in my personal life, I’m getting better in the gym, I’m spending time with my son – so in all aspects of my life, I’m trying to enhance myself so when that time does come and they say you’re going to fight, for example, in March, I’m ready to go, and against anybody, and we’ll be ready.”

PFL’s Bellator purchase throws uncertainty into Jeremy Kennedy’s title hopes

Jeremy Kennedy is unsure he’s getting the next featherweight title shot after PFL’s acquisition of Bellator.

[autotag]Jeremy Kennedy[/autotag] was hoping to be fighting for a Bellator title in 2023, but now he might not end up fighting for the belt at all.

The Bellator featherweight contender capped off a three-fight winning streak in February, defeating Pedro Carvalho in enemy territory at Bellator 291 in Dublin. Prior to that, he had gotten his hand raised against notable names in Aaron Pico and Emmanuel Sanchez.

Kennedy (19-3 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) was confident his run would put him up against Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Freire, but unfortunately it didn’t. “Pitbull” would fight Sergio Pettis in an attempt to capture a third title, but lost a unanimous decision in June. He would then take a short-notice fight in July against Chihiro Suzuki where he was knocked out and suffered an injury that would put him out until early 2024.

“Right after that last fight (against Carvalho), a title shot was lined up so we were just kind of waiting on ‘Pitbull’s timeline, and then he had a pretty funky year.” Kennedy told MMA Junkie Radio. “Going down and challenging at 135 and then the short-notice thing in Japan and how that went and then surgery.

“Then they had an interim thing scheduled for me for December and Viacom cancelled that card, so it was back to back constantly getting pushed back and here we are with the merger and still with uncertain when things will start up again.”

Unfortunately for Kennedy, PFL made their acquisition of Bellator official in November and thet announced that they were going to do champion vs. champion super fights in 2024. This meant Jesus Pinedo would fight ‘Pitbull’ and not Kennedy.

“Now ‘Pitbull’ is getting ready to come back, and I still thought that was what I was coming back to early in the year, but then they did the staredown and that kind of answered that question for me,” Kennedy said. “I think they hadn’t had everything set up yet, and they were just kind of excited and going for it, and that was an opportunity for them to square off these champions. Who knows if it’s all going to be in one card or if they’re going to spread it out. I’m not sure what’s happening.

“Until I see the official announcement, there’s still a little bit of hope. Maybe they’re planning a champion vs. champion thing, but that could be near the middle of the year or something like that and that might not be those guys facing off. At the time, that’s what they wanted. This is wishful thinking, but maybe I end up getting that fight earlier, winning the belt, and then I’m fighting Pinedo.”

The PFL-Bellator merger has brought a lot of uncertainty to Kennedy. He’s not happy with the way things have been going and the lack of clarity. Kennedy is hoping to get an answer soon. If he doesn’t get a title shot, he wants a big name in the meantime. What’s certain, is that he doesn’t have much interest in the tournament model and wants to be part of the matchmaking bouts.

“As far as the tournament goes, it’s tough because I’ve spent the last few years putting myself in this position just to go back into a tournament like that,” Kennedy said. “The activity is nice, but I feel like I’ve earned something big. It leaves me in a tough stop for sure. I’m not really keen on waiting. I’ve already waited this long. … For me, a long as it’s something big, either a title shot or a something big coming back, maybe even on that big pay-per-view champion vs. champion, if they want to put a couple of Bellator high ranked guys against some PFL names, that would be pretty cool.

“That would line myself up on a good timeline with ‘Pitbull.’ Every fight is a risk, but at this point I’m at my wits end on the waiting part.”

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Jeremy Kennedy says title shot vs. Patricio Freire ‘fight to make’ after Bellator 291

Jeremy Kennedy doesn’t see what else he has to do to challenge Patricio Freire after three wins in a row, all against top-five fighters.

DUBLIN – [autotag]Jeremy Kennedy[/autotag] thinks he’s done more than enough to earn a title shot after Bellator 291.

Kennedy (19-3 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) swept the judges’ scorecards in a unanimous decision win over Pedro Carvalho this past Saturday at 3Arena in Dublin.

Entering the fight, Kennedy viewed Carvalho as a No. 1 contender bout and now eyes featherweight champion [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag].

“I believe so,” Kennedy told MMA Junkie and other reporters following Bellator 291. “I don’t know who else there is for me to fight. That’s three wins in a row, and I’m starting 2023 with wins over Sanchez, Pico, and Carvalho, all ranked in the top five when I beat them, and so I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do. They’re all dominant victories. I think that’s the fight to make now.”

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Kennedy thinks he’s been overlooked by Freire, which has rubbed him the wrong way. He even sees “Pitbull” dropping down to bantamweight to avoid fighting him.

“I’m coming. I’ve been on his heels the whole time,” Kennedy said. “When he was fighting Borics and I was fighting Pico, he was already talking about fighting Pico. That left a sour taste in my mouth and since that fight, I was like, ‘I can’t wait to earn my shot to fight him, to prove because he was overlooking me back then.'”

He continued, “Now there’s talks of him going down to ’35, and he’s probably calling his nutritionist right now trying to be like, ‘Yo, get me down to ’35 because I don’t want any of this.’ And I’m ready for that fight. That’s the fight to make, that’s the only fight that’s left. Nobody else in the top five – like I said, three wins in a row against all top-five guys, and there’s no one else for him.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 291.

Bellator 291 post-event facts: Yaroslav Amosov’s incredible streak hits 27 fights

The longest active winning streak in MMA still belongs to Yaroslav Amosov after a dominant win to defend gold at Bellator 291.

Bellator returned to 3Arena in Dublin on Saturday with Bellator 291, and with 18 fights on the docket, it played out as one of the longest events in company history.

The card closed on a high note, however, when Ukraine welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov (27-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) retuned to competition with a dominant unanimous decision win over Logan Storley (14-2 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) to move to 2-0 in their head-to-head series.

Amosov is proving to be one of the best in the world at 170 pounds, and his flawless record is there to back up that notion. For more on the numbers behind his fight, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from Bellator 291.

Bellator 291 predictions: Who’s picking Logan Storley to upset Yaroslav Amosov?

Check out our staff members’ picks for the Bellator 291 main card in Dublin, featuring Yaroslav Amosov vs. Logan Storley.

	Amosov vs. Storley	Carvalho vs. Kennedy	Logan vs. Queally	Harding vs. Kavanagh	Clarke vs. Sinis
MMA Junkie readers’ consensus picks 15-11	Amosov (73%)	Kennedy (80%)	Queally (83%)	Kavanagh (77%)	Clarke (90%)
Matt Erickson 18-8	Storley	Kennedy	Queally	Harding	Clarke
Matthew Wells @MrMWells 17-9	Amosov	Kennedy	Queally	Kavanagh	Clarke
George Garcia @MMAjunkieGeorge 17-9	Amosov	Kennedy	Queally	Kavanagh	Clarke
Ken Hathaway @kenshathaway 16-10 2018, 2022 Champion	Amosov	Kennedy	Queally	Kavanagh	Clarke
Simon Samano @SJSamano 16-10	Amosov	Carvalho	Queally	Kavanagh	Clarke
Nolan King @mma_kings 15-11/em>	Amosov	Kennedy	Queally	Kavanagh	Clarke
Brian Garcia @thegoze 15-11 2017 Champion	Storley	Kennedy	Queally	Kavanagh	Clarke
Farah Hannoun @Farah_Hannoun 14-12	Amosov	Kennedy	Queally	Kavanagh	Clarke
Danny Segura @dannyseguratv 14-12	Amosov	Kennedy	Queally	Kavanagh	Clarke
Abbey Subhan @kammakaze 12-14	Amosov	Kennedy	Queally	Kavanagh	Clarke
Mike Bohn @MikeBohn 12-14 2014 Champion	Amosov	Kennedy	Queally	Kavanagh	Clarke

Bellator 291 predictions: Who’s picking Logan Storley to upset Yaroslav Amosov?

Bellator is in Ireland with one of the most dominant fighters in MMA at the top of the bill.

Bellator 291 takes place Saturday at 3Arena in Dublin. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)

In the main event, welterweight champion [autotag]Yaroslav Amosov[/autotag] (26-0 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) meets interim champ [autotag]Logan Storley[/autotag] (14-1 MMA, 9-1 BMMA) in a title unification bout. The two fought in late 2020, when Amosov took a split decision. He won the title his next time out.

Amosov is slight favorite at -165 at Tipico Sportsbook; the comeback on Storley is +130. But our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers are siding with Amosov, who has MMA’s longest active winning streak, at a big 9-2 clip.

In the co-feature, [autotag]Pedro Carvalho[/autotag] (13-6 MMA, 6-3 BMMA) takes on [autotag]Jeremy Kennedy[/autotag] (18-3 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) at featherweight. Kennedy nearly is a 3-1 favorite, and he’s a near-unanimous pick at 10-1 from our staff members.

Also on the main card, [autotag]Peter Queally[/autotag] (13-7-1 MMA, 2-3 BMMA) is just a -150 favorite at lightweight in front of his home fans against [autotag]Bryce Logan[/autotag] (12-7 MMA, 0-4 BMMA), but Queally is one of our two unanimous picks on the main card at 11-0.

[autotag]Janay Harding[/autotag] (6-6 MMA, 3-4 BMMA) and [autotag]Sinead Kavanagh[/autotag] (8-5 MMA, 5-5 BMMA) meet in a women’s featherweight fight, and each is hoping a win will lead to a title shot. Kavanagh is more than a 2-1 favorite on her home turf, and she has a near-unanimous edge in the picks at 10-1.

And to open the main card, [autotag]Ciaran Clarke[/autotag] (6-0 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) takes on late-notice replacement and promotional newcomer [autotag]Leonardo Sinis[/autotag] (11-5-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) at featherweight. Clarke is the biggest favorite on the main card at more than 4-1, and not surprisingly is our other unanimous pick.

In the MMA Junkie consensus picks, Amosov (73 percent), Kennedy (80 percent), Queally (83 percent), Kavanagh (77 percent) and Clarke (90 percent) are the choices.

Check out all the picks above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 291.

Jeremy Kennedy: My grappling ‘a big gap’ Pedro Carvalho has to fill at Bellator 291

Jeremy Kennedy considers his grappling to be levels above Pedro Carvalho heading into Bellator 291.

DUBLIN – [autotag]Jeremy Kennedy[/autotag] believes his grappling is levels above [autotag]Pedro Carvalho[/autotag].

Kennedy (18-3 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) faces Carvalho (13-6 MMA, 6-3 BMMA) in Saturday’s Bellator 291 co-main event at 3Arena. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

Coming off back-to-back wins over Emmanuel Sanchez and Aaron Pico, Kennedy expects to be a handful for Carvalho on the mat.

“The grappling difference I think is just gonna be huge regardless with anybody I fight,” Kennedy told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Bellator 291 media day on Wednesday. “I don’t care who you are. Pedro, I just think this is a big gap for him that he’s going to have to fill and figure out how to fill. But that just puts the rest of the division on notice, as well.”

He continued, “I’m better than all of these guys at what I do, my A-game. So that’s what they have to worry about: ‘How the hell am I gonna keep this guy off of (me)?’ This fight I’m looking to make a statement, so I think you’re gonna see other tools that guys are gonna look back and be like, ‘Damn, now where do we go with this guy?'”

With a win over Carvalho, Kennedy seeks a title shot against featherweight champion Patricio Freire and expects to be a bad matchup for him too.

“Who has he fought that resembles anything that I do?,” Kennedy asked. “It’s a list of Wiechel, Sanchez – A.J. (McKee) is maybe the closest, and they’re 1-1, and A.J. does not push his grappling and his wrestling like he could. Chandler didn’t have the chance. I would like to see the list of hard-pressure fighter-grapplers that he’s fought, and it’s a very small list.”

He continued, “I don’t think you get much bigger than me at ’45. ‘Pitbull,’ I’ve always thought is a little small for ’45, and I just think stylistically I’m a nightmare for him. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s cutting now to try and get to 35 already.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 291.

Pedro Carvalho before Bellator 291: ‘After I beat Jeremy Kennedy, I’ll be fighting for the belt’

Pedro Carvalho is confident that beating Jeremy Kennedy will earn him a Bellator featherweight title shot.

DUBLIN – [autotag]Pedro Carvalho[/autotag] is confident that beating [autotag]Jeremy Kennedy[/autotag] will earn him a featherweight title shot.

Carvalho (13-6 MMA, 6-3 BMMA) meets Kennedy (18-3 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) in Saturday’s Bellator 291 co-main event at 3Arena. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

Currently ranked No. 3 in Bellator’s featherweight rankings, the SBG Ireland fighter hopes to get another opportunity at the belt, which is still held by reigning champion Patricio Freire, who knocked him out in their title fight in November 2020.

“Go out there, show that I’m the real No. 1,” Carvalho told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Bellator 291 media day on Thursday. “Show that I’m soon to be the champion and make a statement, leave no doubts. That’s it.”

He continued, “This is the No. 1 contender fight. I know that after I beat Jeremy Kennedy, I’ll be fighting for the belt.”

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First, Carvalho needs to get past Kennedy, who’s riding some momentum with back-to-back wins over Emmanuel Sanchez and Aaron Pico. Carvalho acknowledges the UFC veteran’s skill set but thinks he possesses a similar style to Mads Burnell, whom he beat by unanimous decision in his past outing at Bellator 285.

“The main thing that I see in him is like he’s not flashy, he doesn’t have like highlight stuff, but he’s a consistent fighter,” Carvalho said. “You never see him fighting bad. He always fights good. He’s a consistent guy. On the other hand, I don’t see nothing that I haven’t seen before. He has nothing to bring that I never been through before on the mats on a daily basis and even in the fights.

“You can see overall his style of fighting is pretty much the same thing that happened in my last fight against Mads Burnell. A guy that likes to put others against the fence, he eventually tried to get the takedown and be happy to stay on top. If he gets a dominant position, then he’ll start to work the ground and pound. So I’ve been there so many times and stylistically, it’s a great matchup for me.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 291.

Video: Bellator 291 main and co-main event faceoffs after media day in Dublin

Watch the first faceoffs of Bellator 291 fight week between Yaroslav Amosov and Logan Storley, as well as Pedro Carvalho vs. Jeremy Kennedy.

DUBLIN – MMA Junkie was on the scene for Bellator 291 media day on Thursday and afterward, fighters from the top two bouts came together for their first faceoffs of fight week.

In the main event, welterweight champion [autotag]Yaroslav Amosov[/autotag] (26-0 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) makes his return to MMA after serving 10 months in the Ukraine military to defend his country from Russian invasion. He will unify the title against interim champion [autotag]Logan Storley[/autotag] (14-1 MMA, 9-1 BMMA) in a rematch from November 2020 won by Amosov. And in the co-headliner, [autotag]Pedro Carvalho[/autotag] (13-6 MMA, 6-3 BMMA) meets [autotag]Jeremy Kennedy[/autotag] (18-3 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) in a key featherweight bout.

You can watch them face off in the video above.

Bellator 291 takes place Saturday at 3Arena. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims streamed on MMA Junkie.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 291.

UFC veterans in MMA, boxing and bareknuckle action Feb. 24-25

Check out which veterans of the UFC are in MMA and boxing action this weekend across the globe.

The UFC is back in Las Vegas for UFC Fight Night 220. The event takes place at the UFC Apex, with a light heavyweight tilt between Nikita Krylov and Ryan Spann.

Elsewhere, many other MMA events are taking place that feature familiar names that have competed under the UFC banner.

These 14 veterans of the global MMA leader are competing in MMA boxing this week from Feb. 24-25.

Check out the names and details about their bouts below.

Upcoming event information from Tapology.