Patricky Freire made history at Bellator 205, and he hopes it will finally lead to another shot at the lightweight championship.
“Pitbull” stopped veteran Roger Huerta in the second round in Boise on Sept. 21, setting a new record for the most knockouts in Bellator history with nine. Now tied with Michael Chandler for most wins in the lightweight division (13), Freire expects to extend his knockout record even further.
”I’m fighting my fight and that’s just the consequence,” Freire told MMA Fighting of his accomplishment. “That shows I can knock anyone out. That puts me in a higher level in the promotion and in the lightweight division, which is a tough weight class regardless of the promotion. That separates the men from the boys.”
A winner of four straight fights since his championship match with Chandler in June 2016, “Pitbull” says he wasn’t promised a title shot after Huerta, but believes it’s a no-brainer. The Bellator lightweight belt will finally be back in rotation on Dec. 14, with Brent Primus defending it for the first time in a rematch with Chandler.
”I think Primus will win again,” Freire said. “My next opponent will be whoever wins this fight. I don’t know how long it will take for them to fight again after that, and I don’t want to wait on the sidelines again. Five or six months is too much for me.”
Not a fan of long breaks between fights, Freire guarantees he’s “ready to fight anyone” on the same card on Dec. 14, and is volunteering to replace either Primus or Chandler in the title fight if something happens to one of them.
”There are lots of great names in the division,” Freire said. “Bellator has signed some European talents, some UFC veterans, guys from (Conor) McGregor’s team. There’s Goiti (Yamauchi) as well, we were scheduled to fight but it fell through. There’s also Brandon Girtz. They have a lot of options to choose for my next fight.”
With his recent win after Huerta, Freire improved to 13-7 under the Bellator banner. He has gone 10-3 over his last 13 fights.
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