Bellator featherweight and lightweight champion Patricio Freire believes old foe Michael Chandler can defeat Dustin Poirier.
Chandler made headlines this past weekend after an emphatic debut that saw him defeat Dan Hooker via first-round TKO at UFC 257.
Many are now eager to see how Chandler does against the rest of the division with some observers even calling for him to face Poirier next, who is coming off a second-round knockout win over Conor McGregor.
And as far as Freire is concerned, Chandler is a bad matchup for Poirier.
“Poirier proved in that second fight against [Conor] McGregor that besides evolving his boxing, he also has a strong mind,” Freire told Sherdog. “But Chandler’s game is a bad matchup for him. I truly believe he can beat Poirier very easily, just like he did with Hooker.
“He [Poirier] commits a couple of boxing mistakes that could be dangerous with Chandler. For example, he copies the [Floyd] Mayweather shoulder defense, which is really dangerous with four-ounce gloves. And he frequently gets hit because of that. If he gets hit by explosive guys with the knockout power of Chandler or myself, he will sleep. No doubt about it.”
Despite these comments, there is certainly no love lost between “Pitbull” and Chandler with the former being the last person to defeat the latter back in 2019.
That said, Freire is somewhat rooting for Chandler in a way even if he doesn’t admit it — especially as the American is showing that fighters at Bellator are more than capable of defeating the UFC’s best.
“Everybody knows that I don’t like Chandler, and I don’t cheer for him,” Freire added. “But he is showing, like Eddie Alvarez did, the power of Bellator.”
What do you make of Freire’s comments?