It appears Scott Coker is now on board for a trilogy bout between Patricio Freire and A.J. McKee.
Freire (33-5 MMA, 21-5 BMMA) reclaimed the featherweight title from McKee by unanimous decision in the Bellator 277 main event this month. In the post-fight news conference, Coker said an immediately trilogy bout is unlikely, but seems to have changed his opinion.
McKee (18-1 MMA, 18-1 BMMA) thinks he was robbed, but one of the hurdles that Bellator will have to overcome when making a potential trilogy is McKee’s insistence of moving up to lightweight.
“I do believe that if we can work out the weight thing with A.J., I know he wants to move up, I’d love to run that one back because I think that fight deserves to have a trilogy,” Coker told MMA Junkie Radio. “It’s really gonna be up to A.J. because he’s the fighter, but when he was telling me he wants to go up in weight, but maybe he might want to stay at ’45 to run it back with ‘Pitbull.’
“We just haven’t had a real conversation about that because the fight was on Friday and Sunday I came straight here (Hawaii), so I haven’t had a chance to talk to him or his dad. But if he wants to do it, we definitely will not say no because we think they should run that fight back.”
After going on the longest winning streak in Bellator history, McKee suffered his first career setback at the hands of “Pitbull.” Coker thinks that despite losing, a trilogy would elevate both fighter’s value.
“Now they’re 1-1 and now they have a big trilogy fight,” Coker said. “There’s gonna be a ton of interest, everybody’s gonna want to watch it and I do believe it’ll elevate their stock, elevate their brand moving forward.”
Scott Coker changes tune on Patricio Freire vs. A.J. McKee 3: ‘I’d love to run that one back’
