Mixed martial arts champion, Patricio Freire, expressed his thoughts about Bellator getting some new fighters to his division and challenge him on his present featherweight title.
Freire, who has a record of 24-2 MMA and 12-2 BMMA, has basically wiped out the 145-pound division. He has beaten everyone in his class that his upcoming bout this November 6th will be against his former contender, Daniel Straus, whom he has already won over twice. Straus currently has a record of 23-6 MMA and 10-3 BMMA.
This Bellator even will be held at Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Bellator 145’s main card will be aired on Spike TV after the prelims on MMAjunkie.
If everything goes well again for Freire and he wins over Straus for the third time, there are MMA fighters in the promotion ready to fight him for the title like Goiti Yamauchi and Georgi Karakhanyan. Even Daniel Weichel is eyeing for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The issue with these aspiring fighters, however, is that “Pitbull” has already won over Weichel and Karakhanyan previously. Yamauchi, on the other hand, is not yet ready to fight in a championship bout according to some analysts.
Freire currently sits at the 4th spot in the NOS Energy Drink MMA featherweight rankings. With his achievement, Freire is fairly certain that it’s time for Bellator to get in some fresh blood and come up with new matchups to help him reach the top spot in the rankings.
“I don’t think either of them are deserving of a title shot. Weichel, I just knocked out. Yamauchi hasn’t beaten anyone. And Karakhanyan just lost before he came to Bellator. Bellator needs to get more fighters in the division because just beating these guys is not going to get the attention or give me the recognition I want to have. It doesn’t really matter. Whoever it is – if it’s Goiti, if it’s Karakhanyan, if it’s Weichel or anyone else, it will all be the same,” Freire said.
MMA fighters are not new to getting knocked out. Even champions like Freire experience them. In a recent bout with Weichel, Freire was knocked out by the contender but still managed to win the fight. Of course, this kind of fight wouldn’t pass without some sort of controversy. Freire revealed that he discussed those issues; he even brought in a new boxing coach on his training camp.
“Getting knocked down, getting knocked out, losing is part of the game; I have to be ready for that. Of course my last two fights I was knocked down, but in both of them I was able to regroup and turn the tide of the fight. It’s great for me to know the capabilities I have. I have never been knocked out before and I know I have much more to offer and these moments are good for me. I’ve seen all the positive points, all the negatives, all the weaknesses and all the strengths. We’re working on every single aspect of the fight that could happen and should happen. We also have a new boxing coach on the team and two boxing coaches working with me on this camp,” he said.
Fighting Straus for the third time would probably be a breeze for “Pitbull”. But as with any other title fight, nothing is really permanent until it’s done.