It was the final Bellator MMA officials always wanted for their featherweight grand prix.

The star-studded 16-man tournament will reach its hotly anticipated conclusion when Patricio Freire defends his featherweight title against the undefeated A.J. McKee in the Bellator 263 headliner on Saturday at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Meanwhile, former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder Mads Burnell faces Roufusport star Emmanuel Sanchez in the three-round co-main event, with the winner perhaps emerging as the next No. 1 contender at 145 pounds.

Bellator 263 “Pitbull vs. McKee”— which airs live on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT—also features a catchweight clash pitting Christopher Gonzalez against Goiti Yamauchi at 160 pounds and a pair of lightweight tilts, as Usman Nurmagomedov meets Luis Muro and Islam Mamedov confronts Brent Primus. The undercard will stream to the Bellator YouTube channel in its entirety at 7 p.m. PT/4 p.m. PT, a woman’s flyweight battle between Vanessa Porto and Ilara Joanne buoying the seven-fight slate of prelims.

A closer look at the on Bellator 263 particulars:

THE LINEUP

145: Patricio Freire vs. A.J. McKee
145: Mads Burnell vs. Emmanuel Sanchez
155: Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Luis Muro
155: Islam Mamedov vs. Brent Primus
160: Christopher Gonzalez vs. Goiti Yamauchi
125: Vanessa Porto vs. Ilara Joanne
150: Gadzhi Rabadanov vs. Daniel Carey
145: Khasan Magomedsharipov vs. Jonathan Quiroz
180: Johnny Cisneros vs. Joshua Jones
155: Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Kiefer Crosbie
135: Brian Moore vs. Jordan Winski
190: Justin Barry vs. Daniel Compton

THE RUNDOWN

• Preview
• Rivalries: Patricio Freire
• By The Numbers: Freire vs. McKee
• By The Numbers: Sanchez vs. Burnell
• The Bottom Line: The Weight of Legacy
• Pisarsky: All-Time Legend vs. Future GOAT
• The Bellator MMA Featherweight Title: A Visual History

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Related Coverage »

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• Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings
• Sherdog’s Pound-for-Pound Top 10 Rankings
• Sherdog’s WMMA Pound-for-Pound Top 10 Rankings
• Fight Facts: Bellator 262