Shortly after Bellator president Scott Coker announced that
Patricio
Freire had vacated the lightweight title, which in turned
elevated his brother’s rematch with Peter
Queally to a 155-pound championship bout, Sherdog.com spoke
with Patricio to get a better understanding of his decision.
“There were some things bothering me,” Patricio said. “My brother
was the No. 1 challenger. If he keeps winning, he will have to
fight for the belt, and it doesn’t make sense for me to fight for
the belt if that happens. We know that if I weren’t the champion,
he would have already fought for the title. Then he had to fight
Queally to continue his career since I was the champion.”
Patricio also revealed that his loss to A.J. McKee in
a featherweight title bout this past July played an important role
in his decision.
“Being beaten in the featherweight division and holding the
lightweight belt doesn’t make sense to me,” he said. “I have no ego
to hold this status. It doesn’t make sense to be world champion
with a defeat in my last bout. I want to be a pure world champion,
not the guy who was defeated and keeps the belt.
“This was bothering me a lot. I know it was my decision to move up
to the lightweight division and knock out [Michael] Chandler on
top. But now is another moment. I’m satisfied with what I’ve done
and it doesn’t make sense to hold on to this title.”
Freire recently told Sherdog.com that he hopes to make his return
by February 2022 — ideally in a championship rematch against
McKee.