Bellator champ ‘Pitbull’ Freire reacts to win over Daniel Straus: ‘I deserve respect’

Patricio Freire successfully defended his featherweight title at Friday night’s Bellator 132, but had to dig deep to beat former champion Daniel Straus in Temecula.

“Pitbull”, who put his title on the line for the first time after winning it with a unanimous decision over Pat Curran in September, wasn’t expecting to have that much trouble against Straus in the stand-up game, but welcomes the adversity.

“He nullified my game on the feet,” Freire said through his team. “His distance was better than mine, but it’s good. We need to go through tough fights to appreciate what we have so we are always looking to improve. If I always fought dominating my opponents without being hit back sometimes there would be no fun in it. That’s the fun part, to have a war, there has to be a war. I was expecting an easier fight, actually not easier, but one where I would find my game more on the feet. He was good, he was able to find himself well, but he got a bit lost when I started to hit him in the body near the cage, and then after the double leg I got him with,I killed his game. He was coming strong on the first rounds, but later he started to slow down.”

The bout had everything, including eye-pokes and kicks to the groin. However, Freire feels that Straus was faking when he said he was hurt with an illegal knee.

“I don’t have any excuses for anyone. I was able to (overcome in) the fight and keep the belt home even with so much adversity,” he said. “Some things aren’t so easy, people who are outside can’t see or know what exactly is happening in the ring and they can judge the way they want to. But I got poked in the eye, head butted and also I was hit with several low blows. The knee I landed was clean, but unfortunately my foot grazed him. It just grazed him, it wasn’t a kick to the balls. He used that to rest, but the knee was to his body and he felt it. Then I had to go on and finish the fight again (by submission).”

“It grazed him, it wasn’t a hit. My foot grazed him and he kept there simulating,” he continued. “If you see the way Straus falls, he doesn’t fall to the side with a hand on his balls nor falls back with his hands on his balls. He falls down limp. He was limp with a knee to the body. I heard he go ‘uuuh’, he made that groan like asking for mercy, you know? But it is what it is, he felt my foot graze him down there and used craftiness to rest. But the knee was to the body, by foot only grazed him. And why is there people saying bad things about me complaining about his faults? He hit me with a head butt, eye pokes, low blows. For Christ’s sake, you should support me. I fought severely damaged.

“I thought it was a fight of the highest level, not only high level. I fought a deserving contender and it was great to my career, to my experience. To be knocked down, fall on the mat, have an eye closed one more time in a fight, open and start bleeding, come back from adversity and get out on top. I analyzed the fight, I really liked it. I thought I was faster than I was (in my previous fights), I was feinting more, I was hit, but there’s not every fighter that can do that to me. To me I think I was great, it was a great fight.”

“He put a finger on my left eye, then kicked me low,” Freire said of the third round of the fight. “When he got me with a head butt I lost sight on my right eye and through the left eye I was seeing three of him. It was blurred. The third round I didn’t do anything because I was recovering my sight, otherwise I’d be knocked out. I couldn’t see shit, I was getting by on reflexes alone.

“Being hit with irregular attacks took a bit of my steam and also disrupted a bit of my strategy. The fight was stopped all the time, every time something would happen and we would have to restart. Straus came better than I expected, I knew it would be a tough fight. It was very disputed. The fight had a very high level. Straus came better than ever, as everyone could see. I have never been knocked down in my life and he knocked me down. I don’t know if it was me being impaired due to losing part of my sight due to the head butt or it was just that he had a better striking, but one thing certainly helped the other. I think it was a high level fight, everyone saw it was a war, even with the illegal shots we did a good fight. Straus had a lot of desire to win the belt and this may be why, without any intention, he fouled me which ended up helping him, because I was hurt. But I’m here, I’m the champion of the world, the belt is with me.”

Georgi Karakhanyan is the next in line for a shot at the gold, and Freire wasn’t expecting him to be his next opponent.

“We fought almost four years ago and back then we were both favored to win the tournament. He had a nice run outside of Bellator and returned after losing his belt,” the Brazilian said. “I thought the fight with Bubba Jenkins would be harder but he’s shown the strength of his guillotine. It’s going to be a good fight. I thought Bellator would wait for Daniel Weichel to fight before deciding who I’m facing next, but if that’s what they want let’s do it.”

Following a close fight with Straus, “Pitbull” would also be down to defend his title against him as well.

“Cool. I beat him in 2011 by unanimous decision, I beat him now by submission even with so many adversities during the fight,” he said. “I was able to keep calm, reverse the fight and win. But that’s cool, if there is people saying he deserves a rematch I accept it, you can put it on the table. I’m here to confirm I’m strong, I’m tough, and that I’m the best fighter in the weight class. I don’t hide behind anything.

“Whoever they put in front of me I will face, I don’t chose opponents. If they want to give me Curran again I fight Curran, if they want Karakhanyan I fight him, if they want to put Straus again I will fight him again, whoever they want to put in there with me I will fight. There’s no problem. I’m not here to pick opponents, I don’t care if the fight is going to be tough. I just want them to give me a war and I’ll accept it. I don’t run away from challenges, the challenge is accepted to every fighter on the planet. If you want me to beat Straus a third time there’s no problem, I don’t see a problem, you can put him there.”

“Whoever thinks I’m fighting in a low level can come here and try and take my belt,” he added. “The first round was pretty even, back and forth. The second I was winning and he lost a point. The third round was all him. The fourth round was back and forth and I won the fight. It was a war and I got the victory, I deserve respect”

Patricio Freire successfully defended his featherweight title at Friday night’s Bellator 132, but had to dig deep to beat former champion Daniel Straus in Temecula.

“Pitbull”, who put his title on the line for the first time after winning it with a unanimous decision over Pat Curran in September, wasn’t expecting to have that much trouble against Straus in the stand-up game, but welcomes the adversity.

“He nullified my game on the feet,” Freire said through his team. “His distance was better than mine, but it’s good. We need to go through tough fights to appreciate what we have so we are always looking to improve. If I always fought dominating my opponents without being hit back sometimes there would be no fun in it. That’s the fun part, to have a war, there has to be a war. I was expecting an easier fight, actually not easier, but one where I would find my game more on the feet. He was good, he was able to find himself well, but he got a bit lost when I started to hit him in the body near the cage, and then after the double leg I got him with,I killed his game. He was coming strong on the first rounds, but later he started to slow down.”

The bout had everything, including eye-pokes and kicks to the groin. However, Freire feels that Straus was faking when he said he was hurt with an illegal knee.

“I don’t have any excuses for anyone. I was able to (overcome in) the fight and keep the belt home even with so much adversity,” he said. “Some things aren’t so easy, people who are outside can’t see or know what exactly is happening in the ring and they can judge the way they want to. But I got poked in the eye, head butted and also I was hit with several low blows. The knee I landed was clean, but unfortunately my foot grazed him. It just grazed him, it wasn’t a kick to the balls. He used that to rest, but the knee was to his body and he felt it. Then I had to go on and finish the fight again (by submission).”

“It grazed him, it wasn’t a hit. My foot grazed him and he kept there simulating,” he continued. “If you see the way Straus falls, he doesn’t fall to the side with a hand on his balls nor falls back with his hands on his balls. He falls down limp. He was limp with a knee to the body. I heard he go ‘uuuh’, he made that groan like asking for mercy, you know? But it is what it is, he felt my foot graze him down there and used craftiness to rest. But the knee was to the body, by foot only grazed him. And why is there people saying bad things about me complaining about his faults? He hit me with a head butt, eye pokes, low blows. For Christ’s sake, you should support me. I fought severely damaged.

“I thought it was a fight of the highest level, not only high level. I fought a deserving contender and it was great to my career, to my experience. To be knocked down, fall on the mat, have an eye closed one more time in a fight, open and start bleeding, come back from adversity and get out on top. I analyzed the fight, I really liked it. I thought I was faster than I was (in my previous fights), I was feinting more, I was hit, but there’s not every fighter that can do that to me. To me I think I was great, it was a great fight.”

“He put a finger on my left eye, then kicked me low,” Freire said of the third round of the fight. “When he got me with a head butt I lost sight on my right eye and through the left eye I was seeing three of him. It was blurred. The third round I didn’t do anything because I was recovering my sight, otherwise I’d be knocked out. I couldn’t see shit, I was getting by on reflexes alone.

“Being hit with irregular attacks took a bit of my steam and also disrupted a bit of my strategy. The fight was stopped all the time, every time something would happen and we would have to restart. Straus came better than I expected, I knew it would be a tough fight. It was very disputed. The fight had a very high level. Straus came better than ever, as everyone could see. I have never been knocked down in my life and he knocked me down. I don’t know if it was me being impaired due to losing part of my sight due to the head butt or it was just that he had a better striking, but one thing certainly helped the other. I think it was a high level fight, everyone saw it was a war, even with the illegal shots we did a good fight. Straus had a lot of desire to win the belt and this may be why, without any intention, he fouled me which ended up helping him, because I was hurt. But I’m here, I’m the champion of the world, the belt is with me.”

Georgi Karakhanyan is the next in line for a shot at the gold, and Freire wasn’t expecting him to be his next opponent.

“We fought almost four years ago and back then we were both favored to win the tournament. He had a nice run outside of Bellator and returned after losing his belt,” the Brazilian said. “I thought the fight with Bubba Jenkins would be harder but he’s shown the strength of his guillotine. It’s going to be a good fight. I thought Bellator would wait for Daniel Weichel to fight before deciding who I’m facing next, but if that’s what they want let’s do it.”

Following a close fight with Straus, “Pitbull” would also be down to defend his title against him as well.

“Cool. I beat him in 2011 by unanimous decision, I beat him now by submission even with so many adversities during the fight,” he said. “I was able to keep calm, reverse the fight and win. But that’s cool, if there is people saying he deserves a rematch I accept it, you can put it on the table. I’m here to confirm I’m strong, I’m tough, and that I’m the best fighter in the weight class. I don’t hide behind anything.

“Whoever they put in front of me I will face, I don’t chose opponents. If they want to give me Curran again I fight Curran, if they want Karakhanyan I fight him, if they want to put Straus again I will fight him again, whoever they want to put in there with me I will fight. There’s no problem. I’m not here to pick opponents, I don’t care if the fight is going to be tough. I just want them to give me a war and I’ll accept it. I don’t run away from challenges, the challenge is accepted to every fighter on the planet. If you want me to beat Straus a third time there’s no problem, I don’t see a problem, you can put him there.”

“Whoever thinks I’m fighting in a low level can come here and try and take my belt,” he added. “The first round was pretty even, back and forth. The second I was winning and he lost a point. The third round was all him. The fourth round was back and forth and I won the fight. It was a war and I got the victory, I deserve respect”