Jeremy Kennedy expects to have a strength advantage over Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Freire.
Kennedy (19-3) challenges Freire (34-7) in Friday’s Bellator Champions Series: Belfast co-headliner at SSE Arena in Northern Ireland.
Freire finds himself on a two-fight losing skid for the first time in his career. But with both losses not coming at featherweight, Kennedy admits it’s tough to gauge which version of Freire he’ll get.
“I’m training like I’m fighting the best ‘Pitbull,’” Kennedy told MMA Junkie Radio. “I have to. That’s the way I approach every fight. It’s hard because there is a lot of little speculation around those losses. He hasn’t lost at 145. So he’s still, in my eyes, that undisputed, that multitime champion. (At) 145, who’s beat him at 145?”
One of Freire’s losses came in a bantamweight title fight against Sergio Pettis this past June – his divisional debut. He was then knocked out less than a month later by Chihiro Suzuki in a 154-pound catchweight bout that he accepted on very short notice.
While Kennedy doesn’t put too much stock into Freire’s skid, he can’t help but think his recent cut to 135 pounds will play a factor.
“The biggest thing that sticks out to me was that cut to ’35,” Kennedy said. “Not the age, not the wear and tear, just the frame, the size. The fact that he could even make that weight, I just know I’m a bigger human than him. I just know I’m a lot more physical at featherweight than he is because I couldn’t even dream about making 140.
“So, the fact that he could, and did, and not even that long ago, like within a year, I don’t think he’s going to be able to put on the muscle properly to even compare with me physically. That’s the biggest one I’m taking away, is I just think he’s going to be too small. But again, he has fought his whole life as a pretty undersized featherweight. He’s a little undersized, and I plan on showing that just by being too physical and too dominant everywhere.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator Champions Series: Belfast.
Jeremy Kennedy: ‘I’m a lot more physical at featherweight’ than Bellator champ Patricio Freire