Count former Bellator MMA champ Patricio
Freire among those that want to get in on the lucrative boxing
vs. MMA phenomenon sweeping the sport.
Just like the fight between Logan Paul
and Floyd
Mayweather in the U.S., the fight between the retired boxer
Acelino “Popo” Freitas and YouTube sensation Whindersson Nunes was
a smash success in their home country of Brazil. In the
co-headliner spot, MMA legend Antonio
Rogerio Nogueira squared off with Leonardo
Guimaraes in the ring. The crossover show at Fight Music Show
on Jan. 30 in Santa Catarina, Brazil, drew a massive audience
combined of MMA and boxing fans, so much so that the second edition
is already in the works.
This fight card featured a 165-pound match pitting ex-WBA Unified
and WBO super featherweight champ Nunes against 27-year-old YouTube
comedian Nunes – the latter celebrates nearly 43 million followers
– and the two fought to a draw after eight two-minute bouts. After
the fight, Freitas, age 46, called out ex- Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight
kingpin Jose Aldo.
“In USA, it’s a huge success the challenges between MMA fighter and
boxers in boxing rules,” Freitas explained in his post-fight
interview. “Once we have one of the best here in Brazil let’s make
it happen. Aldo come to my ring!”
Not one to back down from a callout, Aldo immediately answered that
he would be interested in facing “Popo” under hybrid rules, with a
round of boxing and another in kickboxing. The former champ did
not, however, believe that UFC head Dana White would allow that
possibility. Freitas then extended his challenge to Wanderlei
Silva and Vitor
Belfort, creating an instant stir in the MMA community and
drawing debates between boxing and MMA fans as to who would
win.
One Championship bantamweight champion Bibiano
Fernandes was the first to raise his hand in an effort to draw
interest and take on the boxing star.
“‘Popo,’ Belfort and Wanderlei are twice your size,” Fernandes said
to Sherdog shortly before contracting COVID-19. “I’m the same
weight and, unlike Aldo, I would love to face you in boxing rules.
Where should I sign?”
On Monday, another Brazilian stepped up on behalf of Aldo, this
time being Patricio
Freire. Unlike Fernandes’ statement and Aldo’s
counter-proposal, “Pitbull” was a little less respectful about
it.
“I would accept to fight ‘Popo’ on his rules,” Freire stated. “But
I got amazed by the amount of s— he talked. He has the same size
of me, on his prime he weighted around 135 [pounds]. Today, 46
years old, he must be weighing 160 [pounds]; how come he challenges
two big guys like Wanderlei and Vitor, who [each] weigh around 210
pounds?”
Freire was disgusted about the callouts, feeling that they were not
genuine and would never actually happen. Still, the talk may be for
naught, as “Pitbull” has a full dance card with the recent
announcement of his headliner spot at
Bellator 277 opposite A.J. McKee in
April. Freire is not quite certain he would be able to take the
fight himself unless he was no longer part of the Bellator
roster.
“Wanderlei could be a possible fight because he is not a boxer, but
Belfort is a boxer,” Freire noted. “He would kill ‘Popo.’ There is
no way this fight happens. I have a lot of respect for ‘Popo,’ he
was a four-time world champion who is one of the greatest Brazilian
sport idols, but if Bellator released me I would fight him. I train
boxing with [the] Brazilian national team for almost 12 years and
I’m also able [to] knock people out.”
Even though Freire is a Bellator mainstay, he cannot imagine a
possibility where Freitas has not followed his career.
“My career in [the] USA is also promoted by Showtime, the company
that promoted Floyd
Mayweather for [a] long time. And don’t say you don’t know who
I [am],” said “Pitbull,” who is committed to Bellator and is
focused on his rematch with A.J. Mckee. “In that case I would have
an enormous pleasure to get [on] a plane and go to your place and
beat you up.”