Fight Facts: Bellator 277 ‘McKee vs. Pitbull 2’

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR FIGHTS: 3,085
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR EVENTS: 288

Bellator MMA put on what it proclaimed to be the “biggest night in Bellator history,” only for the bottom to fall out in the two championship co-headliners. The 14-fight bonanza at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., rocked the house for much of the night, but the men on the marquee largely fell short for the promotion. Bellator 277 still featured an incredible familiar feat, a man rewriting Bellator’s heavyweight history books and the costliest headbutt in recent memory.

PP4: Wresting the featherweight strap back from the man that took it from him in A.J. McKee by decision, Patricio Freire became the first fighter in company history to begin a fourth title reign.

Pitbulls on Two Thrones: Both Patricio and his brother, Patricky Freire, currently hold gold under the Bellator banner, as Patricky is the current lightweight king. The two are the first concurrent brother champs in major MMA history, but not the first pair of siblings to hold belts at the same time in a major MMA organization. The latter distinction goes to Christian Lee and Angela Lee in One Championship.

Bellator to the End: Recording his 21st win as a Bellator fighter, Freire put more distance between himself and the next closest fighter: McKee (18).

A Champion’s Champion: The victory in a title fight was Freire’s 11th, extending his own record once more. No other active fighter on the roster has prevailed in more than five championship bouts.

Busybody: Remaining the most active fighter in Bellator history, the 26th fight for Freire is now two fights above the fighter with the second-most Bellator fights, Saad Awad.

The Readjustment Bureau: Six times throughout his storied career, “Pitbull” has fought an opponent in a rematch. He has won all six now.

Shine Removed: The defeat for McKee is his first as a professional, ending his 18-fight win streak which took place entirely in Bellator. That consecutive stretch of wins remains as the lengthiest in one league in major MMA history.

Giant Check to Nobody: With an accidental headbutt ending the match at 4:55 of Round 3, the light heavyweight grand prix final for the belt and a $1 million check was ruled a no contest. It is the second no contest in Bellator championship history, with Ryan Bader’s eye poke of Cheick Kongo at Bellator 226 the first.

Left to the Liver, Works Every Time: Aaron Pico lifted his career finish rate to 90% when he decimated Adli Edwards early into the third round. All 13 of Pico’s pro bouts have come in the Bellator cage.

The Young and the Reckless: The finish of Edwards was Pico’s seventh by knockout as a Bellator fighter. Just six other fighters throughout organizational history have amassed more than the Jackson-Wink product, and two of them, Freire and Tyrell Fortune, competed at this event.

There’s Always Grappling: Falling short to Tyson Siphavong-Miller when the doctor declined to clear him for Round 2, Rhalan Gracie fell to 0-4 in MMA. The 34-year-old Gracie family member debuted in 2006, when Dustin Hazelett beat him in an event pitting Team Gracie against Team Hammer House.

Increase Your Fortunes: Tyrell Fortune blew through Rakim Cleveland in 98 seconds to record his 12th victory as a pro, with all 12 under the Bellator lights. He is now the second-winningest Bellator heavyweight, trailing only Cheick Kongo at 13.

Big Man, Big Fists: Fortune has recorded eight knockouts over his career, putting him tied for the fourth-most in Bellator history. Douglas Lima (nine), and Michael Page and Patricky Freire (10 each) have notched more.

An Eventual Contender: All eight of Fortune’s knockouts, and all nine overall triumphs by stoppage, came at heavyweight. He further builds onto his own record with those wins, with no other heavyweight securing more than five finishes by strikes.

Dov Yags for Short: Shellacking Rafael Carvalho with elbows and punches in the second round, Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov earned his first win in Bellator after three tries. The Turkmenistan native now posts a high finish rate of 84%, with seven of his last eight victories coming inside the distance.

Killing Dreams, Left and Right: Gaston Bolanos rematched Daniel Carey after getting choked to sleep by him in 2019, and the result changed as he knocked Carey out in the first round. “The Dreamkiller” has earned all six of his wins – every one in Bellator – by knockout within two rounds.

Using the Judges as a Crutch: In 2018, Kyle Crutchmer started out his career with three stoppage wins, each coming in 6:08 or less. Since then, five of his last six wins were on the scorecards, and all unanimously scored in his favor, following his decision win over Michael Lombardo.

Living Up to the Nickname: Rogelio Luna prevailed in a “Fight of the Year”-worthy battle against Socrates Hernandez, finishing “Socky Bombs” at 4:48 of the third round. His finish is the ninth-latest for a non-title fight in promotional history.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into Bellator 277, Pico had never competed outside of a standard weight class (12 fights), Edwards had never been finished (10 fights) and no fight in a Bellator cage had ended via no contest in Round 3.