Patricio Freire: 5 Defining Moments

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Patricio Freire recaptured the Bellator MMA featherweight championship by submitting Daniel Straus two years ago and has kept it under safekeeping ever since. The Brazilian will move up to 155 pounds to challenge Michael Chandler for the lightweight crown in the Bellator 221 main event on May 11 in Rosemont, Illinois.

“Pitbull” enters the superfight with additional incentive: Chandler has defeated his older brother, Patricky Freire, on two different occasions. As Freire prepares for his showdown with Chandler, here are five moments that have helped define his career:

Local Smarts

Freire started training at the famed Chute Boxe Academy as a teenager. When he was only 16 years old, “Pitbull” made his professional mixed martial arts debut at a Desafio event on March 9, 2004, prompting a corner stoppage after only one round. He followed it with seven more victories in regional promotions, mostly in Natal, Brazil. Three of those eight wins were authored inside Round 1.

Breakthrough

After compiling a perfect 8-0 record, Freire was signed by Bellator and immediately tapped to join the promotion’s Season 2 featherweight tournament. Freire was pitted against Will Romero in the opening round and submitted him with a heel hook 2:01 into the first period at Bellator 15 on April 22, 2010.

First Setback

Piggybacking off of his quarterfinal victory, Freire went on to reach the tournament final by taking a unanimous decision from Wilson Reis in the semis. He then met future Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren in a furious battle at Bellator 23 that saw the Brazilian drop and nearly submit the decorated wrestler in the first round. However, Warren managed to bounce back and took the next two rounds to claim the split decision on June 24, 2010. The loss was Freire’s first in 15 professional appearances.

A Unique Rivalry

A tetralogy is quite a rarity in MMA, but Freire engaged in one with the aforementioned Straus. It all started in the Season 4 Bellator featherweight tournament final, where “Pitbull” was awarded a unanimous decision. They met again at Bellator 132, as Freire retained the featherweight title by submitting Straus with a rear-naked choke. The Brazilian surrendered the belt to Straus in a unanimous decision defeat some 10 months later and then reclaimed the 145-pound crown with his guillotine choke submission on the Hard Knocks 365 rep at Bellator 178 on April 21, 2017.

Another Memorable Feud

Freire also partook in a celebrated feud with another Bellator star: Pat Curran. When they first met at Bellator 85, Curran was a newly minted featherweight champion attempting to successfully defend his title for the first time. After five full rounds, Curran curried favor with two of the three cageside judges and left with a split decision. However, in their Bellator 123 rematch on Sept. 5, 2014, Freire made sure to recapture what he felt was rightfully his, outpointing his opponent across 25 minutes to net a unanimous decision win.