The Bellator 291 co-main event was a clinical performance by the number 5 ranked Jeremy Kennedy. The 30-year-old dominated all three rounds against the number 3 ranked Pedro Carvalho en route to a unanimous decision.
After his last fight, Kennedy called out the adopted son of Ireland, Carvalho to fight in Dublin and his wish was granted.
Fights do not get much more perfect for a fighter than that of the co-main event at Bellator 291, however, Kennedy was happy, but not overly impressed with his performance. He stated feeling under the weather in his post-fight speech with ‘Big’ John McCarthy and in his post-fight interview with the media said his rehydration made him sick.
“I’m happy with the win, regardless,” Kennedy told the media. “I would’ve liked to get the finish, but there’s a lot of circumstances whenever you travel across the world. I’m just ready for the next one. It was my rehydration, I think. I made mistakes on the rehydration. I was really dry – I wasn’t sweating, but I felt exhausted there; my gas tank’s [normally] much better than that. He had a tight squeeze right at the beginning but he jumped for it too early but I think I am the best grappler in the division. He had a little bit of a squeeze but it ultimately got me the takedown. I wanted to really hurt him with some hands, but he’s a pressure fighter. I thought I could sit him down, but as soon as I got ahold of him, I was like, ‘This is my path to victory.’”
JBC made quite the statement and also had a great quote in his post-fight speech in the cage, stating, “Pitbull you better not be running down to 35, I’m the guy to fight, I’m the guy in this division, this is my division, I’mma dog walk em all around this cage.”
He followed up in his post-fight interview with the media that he believes there is no other fight for him.
“I believe so, I don’t know who else is there for me to fight,” When asked if he’d be next for the title against Pitbull. “Three wins in a row. Sanchez, Pico, and Carvalho and they have all been dominant victories.. I’ve been all around the world; it’s a cool way to see the world. In a perfect world, I get to fight somewhere in the United States, but I’d fight ‘Pitbull’ in a WalMart. I’m coming. I’ve been on his heels the whole time. When I was fighting Borics and I was fighting Pico, I was like: I can’t wait to get the opportunity to fight him. Now there’s talk of him going down to 135; he’s probably calling his nutritionist right now because he doesn’t want this fight. Let’s do it. We can go ASAP. I’ll fight him in any corner of the world, in any timeframe.”
