Patricio “Pitbull” Freire News

Tom Taylor - November 14, 2019

November 12 marked the three-year anniversary of Conor McGregor becoming the first simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history. McGregor took to Twitter to reminisce on this accomplishment, and was promptly ripped by Bellator’s Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, who currently holds the Bellator featherweight and lightweight belts — the same belts McGregor held in the UFC.

Cole Shelton - October 3, 2019

Darrion Caldwell was not happy that Patricio Freire did not pick him to fight in the Selection Show following Bellator 228. Instead, the featherweight champion decided to fight Pedro Carvalho, leaving Caldwell matched up with Adam Borics on the other side of the bracket. Following the event, Darrion Caldwell went to Patricio Freire’s locker room and confronted the champ about not picking him. The entire encounter was caught by Bellator.

Tom Taylor - September 30, 2019

On Saturday night, Bellator MMA returned to our screens with stacked Bellator 228 card. The salaries for this action-packed card, which was highlighted by four Featherweight World Grand Prix quarterfinal bouts and a middleweight rematch between Lyoto Machida and Gegard Mousasi, have now been revealed.

Adam D Martin - September 29, 2019

Bellator president Scott Coker was asked what he thought about the Bellator featherweight world grand prix quarterfinals matchups, and he said that while he liked the matchups, he was hoping at least one of them was different. The fighters drew numbers and picked their matchups, with champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire having the final say during the selection show at Saturday night’s Bellator 228 event. The champ could have picked anyone he wanted to fight, including top prospect AJ McKee or his rival Darrion Caldwell. Instead, he chose little known Pedro Carvalho, a decision which raised eyebrows by fans who wanted the champ to take on a bigger name.

Chris Taylor - September 28, 2019

Bellator ‘champ champ’ Patricio Freire put his featherweight title on the line against Juan Archuleta this evening in Los Angeles. The highly anticipated bout served as tonight’s Bellator 228 co-headliner.

Cole Shelton - September 11, 2019

Khabib Nurmagomedov is 28-0 and has only lost one round in his entire MMA career. Yet, Bellator featherweight and lightweight champion, Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire believes he can be the one to hand the Russian his first loss. Although they are in two different promotions, Freire hopes he can get the chance as he knows he wouldn’t just beat Nurmagomedov, but knock him out.

Tom Taylor - May 27, 2019

Patricio Freire now owns the Bellator featherweight and lightweight titles. In accomplishing this historic feat, he solidified his rep as one of the sport’s greatest fighters, regardless of promotion. Given Freire’s status as one of the best fighters on earth, many fans have wondered how he might fair in the UFC, namely against UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway.

Adam Martin - May 16, 2019

Patricio Freire joined the shortlist of double champions in a major MMA organization last weekend when he knocked out Michael Chandler in the first round of the main event of Bellator 221 to win the promotion’s lightweight title. “Pitbull” was already the Bellator featherweight champion, making him the promotion’s second current dual champion alongside Ryan Bader, who is the Bellator heavyweight and light heavyweight champion. But Pitbull doesn’t just have his sights set on the titles Bellator has to offer. Now, he wants to go after the UFC’s champions as well.

Cole Shelton - May 12, 2019

Patricio Freire became the second fighter in Bellator history to become a champ-champ last night at Bellator 221. The reigning featherweight champion moved up in weight to take on Michael Chandler, and knocked the lightweight champion out in just 61 seconds. However, immediately after the ref jumped in to stop the fight, Chandler got up and appeared to be fine. But, according to Freire, the 33-year-old was out.

Chris Taylor - May 11, 2019

Lightweight champion Michael Chandler put his title on the line against bitter rival and current featherweight champion Patricio Freire in tonight’s Bellator 221 main event. Michael Chandler (19-4 MMA) reclaimed the Bellator lightweight title at December’s Bellator 212 event, this by defeating Brent Primus via unanimous decision. Chandler enters tonight’s headliner having won seven of his past eight fights, which includes a knockout win over Patricio’s brother Patricky.

Drake Riggs - April 8, 2019

Bellator 221 is set to be a big one as the promotion heads to Chicago, Illinois on May 11 and is headlined by their second ever champion vs champion bout. Going at it will be the featherweight and lightweight champions, Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire and Michael Chandler. Both of which are two of the most accomplished fighters in Bellator history. Factually, they are the most accomplished in their respective divisions.

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2019

According to a report from ESPN, Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Freire will move up in weight to challenge lightweight champion Michael Chandler at Bellator 221 on May 11 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. The pair’s grudge match will reportedly be officially announced by the promotion in the coming days.

Drake Riggs - August 16, 2018

After a couple of rematches stole the featherweight division’s spotlight in Bellator, it’s time that we got a new and fresh matchup. Bellator will be heading back to Israel for the third time in the organization’s history as they’ll drop down in Tel Aviv at Menora Mivtachim Arena on November 15th. In the main event will the featherweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire defending against the red-hot Emmanuel Sanchez reports MMAJunkie.

Drake Riggs - March 9, 2018

It truly is the super fight season! And Bellator champs are starting to get that itch as well. First things first, the most notable super fight on the horizon is the light heavyweight and heavyweight clash of UFC champions, Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic. Then we have the super fight with some serious history on the line… March 24th, ONE: Iron Will is headlined by their longtime reigning bantamweight champion, Bibiano Fernandes as he tries to defend against the man looking to become a three-division champion… Yeah…that’s right, THREE. Fernandes defends against ONE’s first dual weight champion(recently they crowned a second) of the featherweight and lightweight divisions, Martin Nguyen.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Though the UFC’s trip to Nashville dominated most of the MMA community’s focus over the weekend, Bellator MMA also made a Friday night return to our screens with a very exciting card in Bellator 178. In the Bellator 178 main event, former featherweight champ Patricio “Pitbull” Freire battled champ Daniel Straus for a whopping fourth time, this time winning with a second round guillotine to reclaim Bellator featherweight gold.

Tom Taylor - August 29, 2016

Last Friday, in the main event of Bellator 160, former Bellator featherweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire took on former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson for the chance to fight Michael Chandler for the Bellator lightweight title. Unfortunately, the bout turned into a bit of a disaster for the Brazilian slugger. Despite a strong first round, throughout which he repeatedly tagged the much larger Henderson, Freire ultimately lost in the second, bowing out of the fight with a freak injury: a broken fibula (calf bone).