Patricky
Freire, the older brother of the Bellator double champion
Patricio
Freire, is anxiously awaiting a decision from the
organization concerning his next challenge.
“My brother is fighting in the featherweight grand prix and already
said that he has no intention of remaining in the lightweight
division,” Freire told Sherdog.com. “Everybody knows that he just
went up to beat Michael
Chandler. He already declared that he would vacate the title if
I were to get a shot. Brent
Primus already agreed to fight for the title against me, I dont
know why Bellator is taking so long to announce that. I´m anxious
to start my camp.”
Freire hasn’t fought since December 2019, when he lost a decision
to Tofiq
Musayev in the finals of the Rizin lightweight grand prix.
Prior to that, the 35-year-old had been on a seven-bout winning
streak dating back to 2017. Even without his next Bellator bout
scheduled, Patricky is helping his brother prepare to face Emmanuel
Sanchez in the semifinals of the featherweight grand prix.
He expects a much quicker win for Patricio, who took a five-round
verdict against Sanchez at Bellator 209 in November 2018. The
rematch is slated for Bellator 255 on April 2.
“I truly expect in a knockout [victory] in the first round.
Patricio has evolved a lot since the first time they faced each
other three years ago and from what I could see in his last fight
against Daniel
Weichel, Sanchez is exactly the same fighter,” Patricky said.
“My brother is a different human being. The more titles he gets,
the more he trains. He will beat Sanchez and then [A.J. McKee] in
the final.”
Patricky also praised new training partner Paulo
Costa, who is scheduled to face Robert
Whittaker in the UFC Fight Night headliner on April 17.
“‘Borrachinha’ is addicted to training. No matter if it´s Saturday
or Sunday, if there is sparring or any training, he is in the gym,”
Patricky said. “He is like a war tank — strong, explosive, great
ground game as well as very intelligent and competitive. If he is
hit by a clean punch in training, he continues to talk for hours
about that and what he could change to fix the mistake. He has a
champion´s mind and I truly believe he will bring some trouble
to Whittaker.”