One year after capturing the Bellator lightweight belt against
Peter
Queally in Dublin, Patricky
Freire will defend his title against Usman
Nurmagomedov, the cousin of Khabib
Nurmagomedov, on Nov. 18.
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While the fight has not been officially announced by the promotion,
“Pitbull” confirmed the recently reported booking in an interview
with Sherdog.com. He was originally scheduled to defend his belt
against Sidney
Outlaw at Bellator 283 before being forced to withdraw from the
bout.
„Unfortunately I had to withdraw from my last fight with Sidney
Outlaw due to a [pubic bone injury],” Freire said. “But I
started intensive treatment since then with my
physiotherapist and now I’m already doing light sparring.”
Freire says he was taken by surprise when a Bellator matchmaker
texted him the name of his next opponent.
„For everything they are doing in the division and also based on
their position in the rankings, I was pretty sure [Tofiq] Musayev
or Alexandr
Shabliy were the next in line, but there’s no question the
Nurmagomedov surname weighed a lot on their decision.”
According to Freire, the Nurmagomedov name won’t affect him when
they square off inside the cage.
„If he is Nurmagomedov, I’m a Pitbull,” Freire said. “When I enter
the cage, it doesn’t matter the surname, my goal is always to get
the knockout. I just need one good punch to finish his game plan.
That fight will not reach the fith round.”
Even though he is confident, “Pitbull” knows that American
Kickboxing Academy grapplers must be respected.
„I have no doubt that when he feels the power of my hands, he will
try to take me down, so of course wrestling will be one of the most
important disciplines in this camp,” Freire said.
According to Freire, as soon as the fight was confirmed, coach Eric
Albarracin started to look for high-level wrestlers to help
him.
„He already got an American wrestler, the son of an Olympic
champion and a top wrestler from Kyrgyzstan that has a similar
style to Dagestani [wrestlers],” Freire said.
The fact that his brother, Patricio
Freire, is slated to defend the featherweight crown against
Adam
Borics on Oct. 1 doesn’t change much for Patricky’s camp.
„Of course we help each other in all areas, but not sparring,” he
said. “Our trainers say that is not advisable to put two
Pitbulls together in a cage because they hurt each other, and
past experience shows that they are right. The most important thing
for us is to reach the day of the fight in our prime conditions and
finish 2022 with the two Bellator belts here in Natal.”