Patricio Freire hoping brother Patricky joins him on Bellator 203 card, promising ‘double the violence’

Patricio Freire and brother Patricky have not fought on the same card as each other during their long runs with Bellator MMA. The two are hoping that changes — and they see Rome as the best possible place for a “Pitbull” brother one-two punch.

“We are gladiators of the third millennium and Rome is the cradle of the gladiators,” Patricio Freire told MMA Fighting on Thursday. “We’ll make history fighting on the same card and putting on great performances that will make people want to tune in even if on tape delay. The audience knows there aren’t fighters more violent than us, and once they hear they’ll get double the violence they’ll be interested for sure. Not watching this spectacle would be missing history being made.”

Patricio is already defending his Bellator featherweight title against Daniel Weichel in the main event of Bellator 203 on July 14 in Italy. Patricky is not on the card and has not fought since a first-round TKO of Derek Campos at Bellator 194 in February. Patricio believes his brother, who has won three straight, should be fighting Brent Primus for the lightweight belt, but any opponent would suffice at this point, he said.

“Whatever opponent they end up deciding on, I really hope they get Patricky on the card,” Patricio said. “If he fights for the title or not, both of us together on the same card would still make Bellator Rome a much bigger show and very meaningful to everyone involved. The stakes for us would be much higher as well, so there’re several storylines they could go with. It’d be very easy to promote this card and I trust the fans would show them it was the right choice. In exchange, we’ll be looking to make our most impactful performances and wins in the Bellator cage so far.”

The “Pitbull” brothers have not fought on the same card ever in Bellator, because they corner each other and want to focus on that instruction.

“We always want to be able to support each other when we’re fighting but we can’t really do that when on the same card,” Patricio said. “We fought a couple times on the same card in Brazil, on the one I fought after Patricky I was warming up ringside during his fight.”

Patricio was trying to land a fight with Michael Chandler earlier this year, or perhaps a lightweight title fight. Bellator president Scott Coker said he didn’t want Patricio being a top contender at 155, because the promotion didn’t want to run into a situation where the two brothers might have to fight each other.

In Patricio’s mind, though, there would be ways around that — including Patricky dropping down to 145 and chasing a vacated title in that weight division.

“The way they’re playing things, my brother might have to wait until next year to fight for the title,” Patricio said. “As long as they keep him active he wouldn’t mind if the reason was me going for a second belt instead of Bellator giving Chandler everything he wants. I could vacate the belt and leave it open for him and the rest of the division.

“And if I decided to stay at lightweight, he could go grab the featherweight belt. We’d switch divisions and have fresh fights, no problem. The last thing Bellator should worry about would be us, there are several options we’d be fine with and would be good for them.”