With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from October 2022.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from October 2022: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month award for October.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.
Patricio Freire added to his records for most wins and title-fight victories in Bellator history with a dominant defense at Bellator 286.
The final stretch of Bellator’s 2022 schedule kicked off Saturday with Bellator 286, which took place at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, Calif., and featured a 13-fight lineup.
The main event saw the most decorated fighter in company history further enhance his legacy when [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag] (34-5 MMA, 22-5 BMMA) cruised to a lopsided unanimous decision over [autotag]Adam Borics[/autotag] (18-2 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) to defend his featherweight title for the first time in what’s his third title reign in the division.
For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from Bellator 286.
A.J. McKee’s lightweight debut was one for the ages, an all-out thriller.
The lightweight debut of [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] was one to be remembered.
At Bellator 286, McKee (19-1 MMA, 19-1 BMMA) defeated [autotag]Spike Carlyle[/autotag] (14-4 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) via unanimous decision (29-26, 30-26, 30-27) in an all-time Bellator brawl.
The fight co-headlined the event at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, Calif.
In what was seemingly one of the quickest escalations of action out of the gates in high-profile MMA history, McKee and Carlyle swung with reckless abandon. Each man landed their fair share of blows.
Carlyle, who is known for his wild, all-offense style, was met by some of his own medicine by McKee. When the fight initially hit the canvas, Carlyle was in an advantageous position. However, McKee leveraged him over in reversal.
In Round 2, McKee utilized his grappling and submission attempts to largely dominate. In a memorable moment of inactivity, McKee pretended to hump the head of Carlyle in response to a potential glove grab during a submission attempt.
It was more of the same in Round 3. McKee remained patient and controlled Carlyle, who pulled off his fair share of reversals. However, McKee always seemed to get the last word through action.
Carlyle was covered in his own blood as the horn sounded, with McKee on his back. The two men embraced moments before the largely lopsided judges’ scorecards read in favor of McKee.
With the win, McKee bounces back from a debated April loss to Patricio Freire via unanimous decision. After the defeat, which was the first of his career, many thought a trilogy fight against “Pitbull” was inevitable. However, McKee elected to move up in weight instead.
As for Carlyle, he loses for the first time in six fights. His previous loss was his final UFC bout, a defeat to Bill Algeo in 2020. Prior to Bellator 286, Carlyle missed weight by less than one pound and was required to forfeit 20 percent of his purse.
Here are the highlights of Scott Coker’s pre-Bellator 286 scrum Friday in California.
LOS ANGELES – Bellator has a big weekend ahead.
The promotion is hosting one of its biggest events of the year, Bellator 286. The card takes place Saturday at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, Calif.
Ahead of the action, Bellator president [autotag]Scott Coker[/autotag] spoke to the media about an array of topics pertaining to the card. These include [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag]’s title defense against [autotag]Adam Borics[/autotag], [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag]’s move up to 155 pounds, a potential title shot to be earned for [autotag]Aaron Pico[/autotag], [autotag]Spike Carlyle[/autotag] missing weight, and much more.
Check out Coker’s thoughts on all things Bellator 286 below.
In the main event, featherweight champion [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag] (33-5 MMA, 21-5 BMMA), arguably the greatest fighter in Bellator history, takes on challenger [autotag]Adam Borics[/autotag] (18-1 MMA, 9-1 BMMA). Freire is just a slight -150 favorite at Tipico Sportsbook; the comeback on Borics is +115. But our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers have “Pitbull” Freire as a unanimous pick at 11-0.
The co-main event features former featherweight champ [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] (18-1 MMA, 18-1 BMMA) – Freire’s biggest rival – in a move up to lightweight for the first time in front of his home fans in Long Beach. He’ll take on [autotag]Spike Carlyle[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) as a big 5-1 betting favorite. Not surprisingly, McKee is our second unanimous pick.
[autotag]Aaron Pico[/autotag] (10-3 MMA, 10-3 BMMA) is the biggest favorite on the main card in his featherweight bout against [autotag]Jeremy Kennedy[/autotag] (17-3 MMA, 2-1 BMMA). Pico is a -650 favorite at the betting window, but one of our 11 pickers is taking Kennedy to pull off a big upset. Pico still has a blowout in the picks at 10-1, though.
And to open the main card, [autotag]Juan Archuleta[/autotag] (25-4 MMA, 7-3 BMMA) meets [autotag]Enrique Barzola[/autotag] (19-6-2 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) in a bantamweight bout between a pair of fighters looking to rebound after getting knocked out of the ongoing 135-pound grand prix. Barzola is a slight favorite at -140, but Archuleta has a big 8-3 lead in the picks from our staff members.
In the MMA Junkie reader consensus picks, Freire (60 percent), McKee (84 percent), Pico (81 percent) and Archuleta (63 percent) are the choices.
Check out all the picks above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 286.
Spike Carlyle wasn’t happy with the handling of weigh-ins for Bellator 286.
LOS ANGELES – [autotag]Spike Carlyle[/autotag] wasn’t happy with how things went down at Friday’s weigh-ins.
“The Alpha Ginger” missed weight by 0.6 pounds for what was supposed to be a lightweight matchup against former featherweight champion A.J. McKee (18-1 MMA, 18-1 BMMA) at Saturday’s Bellator 286.
Carlyle (14-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) registered 156.6 pounds on the official scale on his second attempt. He then argued that the California Athletic Commission’s official scale was off because the weight on the monitor changed once he stepped off the scale.
“This is going off,” Carlyle said. “Look – it just went down by .2 pounds. Can I re-weigh-in, please? This is not fair. Brother, the time to be here was 11. You guys made me come down and re-do everything. I would’ve been on weight. The scale is literally .2 off, and it’s .4 right now, (and) my hair is still wet. I just need 10 minutes to dry my hair. This isn’t right. I’ve never missed weight in my life. I’m a professional.”
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McKee vs. Carlyle will take place at a catchweight of 156.6 pounds. In consequence of the weight miss, Carlyle will be fined 20 percent of his purse.
Carlyle is undefeated since leaving the UFC. He’s on a five-fight winning streak that includes wins under the Rizin, Bellator LFA and Cage Warriors banners.
McKee is looking to make a good first impression in his debut at 155 pounds. He’s coming off his first professional loss – a unanimous decision setback in his rematch against Patricio Freire. With the defeat, McKee lost the featherweight title.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 286.
A.J. McKee making weight for his move to lightweight was among the highlights from Bellator 286 official weigh-ins.
LOS ANGELES – [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] is officially a lightweight for the first time in his career.
McKee (18-1 MMA, 18-1 BMMA), a former Bellator featherweight champion, will move up a division on Saturday when he meets [autotag]Spike Carlyle[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) – who missed weight – in the Bellator 286
co-main event at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, Calif. It’s one of the key bouts on the main card airs that on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.
Watch the video above to see both co-headliners weigh in ahead of Bellator 286, as well as the rest of the main card for Bellator 286.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 286.
Spike Carlyle says his Bellator 286 matchup against A.J. McKee was “was ordained by a higher power.”
LOS ANGELES – When [autotag]Spike Carlyle[/autotag] first found out about fighting [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag], he was surprised. But now, with Bellator 286 almost upon him, “The Alpha Ginger” believes the matchup was meant to be.
“Oh yeah, 110 percent,” Carlyle told MMA Junkie during Wednesday’s media day. “I think this was ordained by a higher power for this to happen.”
Carlyle (14-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) gets the honor of welcoming former featherweight champion McKee (18-1 MMA, 18-1 BMMA) to lightweight in the Showtime-televised co-main event of Saturday’s card at Long Beach Arena. McKee, 27, is making his 155-pound debut after losing the 145-pound title to Patricio Freire in his last fight, which also served as the first loss of his 19-fight career.
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Carlyle, a three-fight UFC veteran, has been on a five-fight winning streak since leaving the UFC in 2020. The way he sees it, a win over McKee puts him right right where he wants to be – square in the title picture at 155 pounds.
“I think once I win this fight, this puts me in title contention,” Carlyle said. “If they do a grand prix, I’m sure my name will be in the hat. … Maybe they’ll give me preferential treatment, and I’ll get to fight for the title in my first fight.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 286.
A.J. McKee is trying to focus on his lightweight debut at Bellator 286 as a potential trilogy with rival Patricio Freire lingers.
LOS ANGELES – [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] and [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag] are not fighting each other this week, but they ran into each other during Bellator 286 media day despite the promotion’s best efforts to keep them far apart.
“He walked around saying something with his f*cked-up English, talking about ‘motherfucker, fucker, motherfucker’ something,” McKee told MMA Junkie on Thursday. “That’s his favorite word. I think that’s the only word he knows, but … whatever.”
They don’t like each other, and with their series tied 1-1, McKee believes he and Freire should be settling the score Saturday at Long Beach Arena. Instead, Freire is defending his featherweight title against Adam Borics, while McKee makes his lightweight debut against [autotag]Spike Carlyle.[/autotag]
So why isn’t a trilogy happening at Bellator 286? Whose fault is that?
“I have no idea. It’s on somebody,” McKee said. “I think we know I want to fight. For me, it’s just let’s just fight, man. I think it’s good for his legacy, it’s good for my legacy, and got to find out who the best of the best is. One-and-one, regardless of whatever I felt or he felt – one-and-one is one-and-one. You’re not gonna walk away from a game one-and-one. We need to settle this.”
Perhaps they will – and perhaps it’ll happen at 155 pounds, where Freire used to be champion before vacating the title for his brother, Patricky, who is the current champ. Even if Patrico loses to Borics on Saturday, McKee said “there’s no reason not to” do a trilogy at lightweight.
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For the time being, though, McKee, 27, is looking to make an impression in his first fight at 155 pounds after the first loss of his career.
Carlyle (14-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), 29, is a three-fight UFC veteran who was released after going 1-2 there. Since leaving, Carlyle is on a five-fight winning streak, with victories in LFA, Cage Warriors, Bellator, and Rizin FF. He and McKee had an interesting faceoff “with a bit of tension” at media day, according to McKee.
That has the former Bellator champ focused on the task at hand.
“I’m not backing down, he’s not backing down, so it’s gonna be a war, man,” McKee said. “We’re gonna fight each other. But at the same time we respect each other enough, and that’s what it’s all about.”
While the rivalry with “Pitbull” remains on McKee’s mind, his focus is on the task at hand.
“Saturday is Spike Carlyle’s night, and I’m looking forward to just putting on a great show with him,” McKee said. “… I’m a knockout artist at 145. So at 155, just being a bit bigger, stronger and better, I’m gonna have some fun.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 286.
