Patricio “Pitbull” Freire talked to Bloody Elbow about losing his Bellator featherweight title and the road back to the belt.
When Patricio Freire beat Pat Curran back at Bellator 123 in 2014, he achieved a goal years and years in the making. He was a champion. And, in his mind, he was going to stay champion for a long time. He defended the belt successfully twice afterward, beating Daniel Straus and Daniel Weichel. But, Straus who had challenged for and won the Featherweight belt once before, just wouldn’t go away.
After a win over Henry Corrales, Straus made his third charge at the bellator featherweight title, and this time he beat Pitbull (his first win over the Brazilian in 3 attempts). Now Straus once again has the belt around his waist, and Patricio is set to fight Henry Corrales, with a guaranteed shot at the belt waiting on the other side. Pitbull spoke to Bloody Elbow about losing the title and his singular focus on getting it back.
“It wasn’t something that was planned,” Freire said of his loss to Straus, “but it’s part of the career of an athlete. We’re subject to that, but the belt is coming back to me soon. Daniel Straus knows I’m the most complete fighter in this weight class and as soon as he steps back into the cage it’s going to be against me. And he knows the belt is going to return to its rightful owner.
“This kind of helped me to put my feet on the ground and put myself ahead of the weight class. Next time I get that belt I know that no one is going to take it away from me.”
Patricio’s confidence in his own abilities,and most notably his ability to regain the title, seems to be the singular motivating factor in his career. So much so that despite fighting Straus three times already, his only real thoughts are on how to regain his title with Straus in his way:
“I really want to fight Daniel Straus,” Patricio confirmed when asked if the thought of yet another fight against Straus was less than meaningful for him. “I beat him in two matches when I didn’t need to; I beat him twice and lost in a very competitive fight. And so now it’s only about revenge, to get revenge on that loss and get the belt back. Not necessarily a big desire to face Straus again.”
“I have absolute certainty that this is the fight I’m going to get next,” Pitbull said when asked what he’d do if the title shot didn’t happen. “Bellator has promised me that and I know they keep their promises. And so, the only objective is to go in there and get my belt back. There is no… I don’t have any other plans, because I know that’s what is going to happen and there is no other options.”
And as to just how Patricio plans to approach that goal, and his upcoming fight with Henry Corrales? It seems like his most recent loss has given him a need to fight with greater caution in the cage. For an action oriented featherweight, it will be interesting to see how he handles the transition:
“Everyone wants to see exciting fights,” Patricio said of what his latest loss taught him, “guys going there and putting on a show, especially striking and doing big KOs and stuff like that. I kind of let that get to me. I’ve been forgetting some of my skills during the fights and just sticking to that. Everyone knows, when I wanted to choke Straus out, I did. Even though he’s a wrestler, he knows that I can take him down whenever I want. And that’s something that I didn’t show during the fight.
“Now I know that I can’t just go in there thinking about putting on a show, getting a big KO, and putting on an exciting performance. I need also to know how to compete and that means bringing all my skills to the table and if there’s a takedown, to take the guy down. To use my ground game, these things that I have, in order to win.”
Patricio “Pitbull” Freire is set to fight Henry Corrales in the co-main event of Bellator 153 this Friday, April 22nd at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut.
You can follow Patricio on Twitter @PatricioPitbull