Bellator Featherweight Champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire believes media members have been ignoring what he has accomplished.
Not only is Freire the reigning three-time Bellator champion at 145 pounds, but he’s also the promotion’s former lightweight champion. If he makes weight and defeats Sergio Pettis at Bellator 297, he’ll become the new Bellator Bantamweight Champion, making him a rare three-division MMA champion.
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Patricio “Pitbull” Freire On Not Being Recognized
Patricio “Pitbull” Freire appeared on MMAFighting.com‘s “Trocação Franca podcast.” He discussed not being recognized as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time despite his accolades.
“I stopped thinking about that a long time ago,” Pitbull said. “I have a lot of submissions, I have a lot of knockouts, I’ve been fighting overseas since 2010, and I was never the ‘Submission of the Year,’ I was never the ‘Knockout of the Year,’ the ‘Athlete of the Year.’ I think media has been ignoring me a bit, but my results don’t depend on what the media thinks.
“Maybe global sports media still doesn’t recognize me after I win this title, but it will be hard to explain in the history of the sport how that guy won three belts in different divisions and you didn’t see, you didn’t notice. It will be on them. I’m not worried.”
Freire believes he would’ve been given more respect if he had competed under the UFC banner. Still, he feels people like to dismiss Bellator and its fighters.
If “Pitbull” ends up dethroning Pettis, he expects a nice offer to stay at bantamweight. The interim bantamweight champion Patchy Mix waits in the wings. Freire says such a tough weight cut calls for more money. With that said, he’s happy with how Bellator has treated him.
