Jeremy Kennedy jumped at the chance to face Patricio Pitbull at Bellator Belfast on Friday.
Kennedy was originally supposed to fight James Gallagher on Friday night, but after Pitbull’s fight at the PFL vs. Bellator event was canceled, he wanted to fight ASAP so the promotion elevated Kennedy to a title fight.
“Man, that was crazy. They gave me the Gallagher fight and that had a No. 1 contender fight stipulation on it, I couldn’t wait any longer for the title, especially with Pitbull fighting in February,” Kennedy said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “It was a big name in his hometown, but I got the call the same day that Braga didn’t make weight to see if I’d be interested in the switch and that’s a no-brainer. It is the fight I wanted originally.”
Despite being the featherweight champion, Pitbull enters his title defense on a two-fight losing skid. He lost at lightweight at a RIZIN event and lost to Sergio Pettis at bantamweight for the 135lbs title. Due to the change of weights, Kennedy thinks Pitbull will struggle with his size and reach on Friday.
“I think I match up great with him, I think him going to 135 hurt him, just the size it takes a while to put that weight back on. He made weight back in Saudi Arabia a couple of weeks ago and it didn’t look like he was hurting. All these weight cuts and going up and down don’t give you the optimal size for the weight class,” Kennedy said.
Although Jeremy Kennedy thinks it was more circumstances for Patricio Pitbull’s losses, he does think the Brazilian is slowing down. With that, the Canadian believes he can finish him to become the featherweight champ.
“He’s a very difficult guy to submit and hold down and keep down. On the feet, I think I’m going to shock a lot of people with my reach and my length,” Kennedy said. “I can’t say I’m going to knock him out on the feet, but I do think it’s not going to go five rounds. I think he will break from my pressure. We will find out how much he has left in him.”
If Kennedy does beat Patricio Pitbull at Bellator Belfast and becomes the featherweight champ he says it would be surreal for his career. But he knows that he will likely need to beat Pitbull twice to truly start his reign.
“At the end of my career, I will be able to say I was a champion. It is more for my resume. I’ve been around, I’ve fought for all the promotions, and this is something to show for it essentially… I’m anticipating beating him twice, he deserves a rematch. When AJ got the quick one over him, they ran it back and he was successful in it. So, I would imagine he wants to run it back and how do you say no to him,” Kennedy concluded.
