Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire
With an injury to Bellator featherweight champ Pat Curran, and less than two-weeks to find a new opponent, the Bellator Fighting Championships promotion has opted to pull Season Four Featherweight tournament winner Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire (17-1) from the upcoming Bellator 73 card.
The promotion confirmed the news with MMAjunkie.com on Monday.
Bellator 73 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, Aug. 24 at Harrah’s Tunica Hotel and Casino in Tunica, Mississippi. The event features the 2012 Summer Series bantamweight and light heavyweight finals. Marcus Galvao faces Luis Nogueira in the 135-lbs final, and Travis Wiuff meets Attila Vegh in the 205-lbs final.
The bout between Curran and Freire was to be the champs first title defense, having won the strap last March over former title holder Joe Warren. Once Curran has healed up, the winner between himself and Freire will face Season Six Tournament victor Daniel Straus.
Freire lost in the Season Two tournament final to Joe Warren and rebounded by winning three straight in the Season Four tourny. ‘Pitbull’ defeated Georgi Karakhanyan, Wilson Reis and Straus to earn his title shot.