Bellator featherweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire wants to make history. First, he’s challenging for the bantamweight belt at Bellator 297. If he can defeat Sergio Pettis, he’ll be the first fighter to earn a title in three divisions in mixed martial arts history.
Beyond that, with the announcement of Bellator’s new flyweight division, Pitbull told MMAFighting that he’s eyeing a record-shattering fourth title.
Patricio Pitbull Wants To Become FIRST 4 Weight Bellator Champ
“It’s just the beginning for me, I [won’t be] satisfied. I want more. I can be a champion of other organizations, or perhaps go after a fourth division title. I
’ll be honest with you, that hadn’t crossed my mind until they made the flyweight title of Bellator, and right now, I’m waiting for the same thing as the flyweights as my gym are waiting for, and I’m eating more than them, and I’m strong. I’m trimmed, I have a lot of energy left, and I work with the best physiologist there is.
My weight cuts have been perfect. I’m always staying below the featherweight limits without even having to use the bathtub, and we predict that this is gonna be an easy, very good weight cut to 135, as well. So, why not? The belt is right there for the taking, so we could do it. But right now, the focus is on the task ahead of me.
Sergio is dangerous, and I’m not looking past him at all. I have a great challenge to conquer right now, but if I get through that, after I’m done, why not go for [the 125-pound title]?”
Despite his long-sighted optimism, Pitbull refuses to look past Sergio Pettis. “He’s patient, and he’s very good at what he does.
We see what he’s done in Bellator, his last fight against Kyoji Horiguchi. Kyoji is the best flyweight in the world today, there’s no doubt about that.
There’s no one at flyweight as good as him, and he fought for the [bantamweight] title. He was winning the fight, and Sergio, in the fourth round, went in there and knocked him out with a spin punch out of nowhere. So there are a few things that you see from that.
You see that he’s a winner. He doesn’t shy away from the fight. He wasn’t broken there. He still found a way to win. His power was still there.
Many fighters, when the fight goes on their power starts to go, but that didn’t happen with him. So we need to focus on the goal ahead. I know he’s going to be a huge task. He’s not to be taken lightly, and we’re just going in and doing everything we trained for.”
