Lucas Brennan expecting ‘really tough’ fight against Jamese Taylor at Bellator 239

When looking back over 2019, featherweight Lucas Brennan is happy he was able to have a strong second half of the year following unplanned inactivity for the first half of it.

After being sidelined the first six months of the year, Brennan was able to make his pro debut in July and would proceed to pick up two first round finishes in Bellator to cap off his 2019.

“It started out rough, honestly,” Brennan told MMAWeekly.com. “I was wrestling in college the first couple months of the year and ended up getting hurt, and wasn’t sure I was going to fight last year.

“I had my last amateur fight in June and fought in Bellator a few weeks later in July, and then again last November. It all went fantastically. It kept me really busy. I was almost never out of fight camp.”

Having spent a couple of years in the amateur ranks, Brennan had planned to make the move up to pro in 2019, though it came a little sooner than he had anticipated.

“The plan was to go pro last year,” said Brennan. “We ended up doing it slightly quicker than we intended.

“I had my last amateur fight on June 7 and wasn’t going to go pro until several months later, and then Bellator was coming here 45 minutes from where I live in July, and we initially said no, but we thought about it and did it anyway. I’m happy we did it.”

On Friday in Thackerville, Okla., Brennan (2-0) will look to keep his undefeated streak going when he faces Jamese Taylor III (0-1) in a 145-pound preliminary bout at Bellator 239.

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“He’s very long, so closing the distance and getting the fight at my range is very important,” Brennan said of Taylor. “I’ve got to implement my wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu correctly and not just run out there and try to take him down.

“I want to use my boxing and kickboxing to set my way in there, but it will be tough, really tough. I’m confident about getting the win and getting the fight within my realm of things, but it will be really tough.”

While Brennan has an idea of what his 2020 is going to look like, he wants to take things one step at a time.

“Contractually, we do kind of have a roadmap for when we would like to be fighting, but at some point I will be taking time to not only heal but grow,” said Brennan.

“Every fight at 145 pounds is getting harder and harder, so I will be taking some time off because I haven’t been out of fight camp the last year. But really, we’ll go fight by fight.”