Coach Eric Albarracin
recently revealed that Patricio
Freire was targeting a move to bantamweight to become the only
triple champion in MMA history.
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“When you reach a certain level, like [Henry] Cejudo and Patricio,
more important than the belt itself is to make history,” the coach
said in that interview. “Patricio has already beaten all the
records and conquered belts in two weight divisions, now he will
get [to] bantamweight and write his name in history as the only
triple [champion] in Bellator history. Two belts [are] normal in
our team, now we are going after the third one.”
On Monday, that move became official when it was announced that
Freire will face reigning 135-pound champ Sergio
Pettis in the Bellator 297 co-main event on June 16. “Pitbull”
revealed to Sherdog how negotiations for that fight went down.
“I’ve been talking to Bellator for a long time that I was
interested in challenging for the bantamweight title,” he said.
“They thought it would make sense because Pettis is returning from
an injury, and we both accepted.”
According to Freire, the weight-cutting process began last
year.
“When I fought Kleber Koike last December I sent an official
request to Bellator saying I was available to fight at
bantamweight, but if they had plans about that they should let me
know as soon as possible,” he said. “And they took only 10 days to
answer that it was really possible. So I only strayed from my diet
from Dec. 31 to Jan. 11, when I was resting with my family in the
south of Brazil. So I’ve already been in the diet process since
last camp.”
With three months to go before Bellator 297, Freire revealed that
he has already met his nutritionist’s goal regarding his ideal
weight.
“My nutritionist wants me to make the whole camp weighing 10
kilograms (22 pounds) above the bantamweight limit. We are 12
weeks away from the fight already weighing 71 kilograms (156
pounds) and totally healthy,” he said. “On my last weight cut
to [featherweight], I’m making weight with only 30 minutes in the
sauna.
“The only change now is that I must arrive in Chicago weighing [145
pounds], so I just need to cut [11 pounds] on the week of the fight
and it will not be a problem to me. You can be sure that the best
version of Patricio will show up against Pettis on June 16.”