Twenty-five year old Team Nogueira standout, and one half of Bellator's "Pitbull" brothers, Patricky Freire (9-2-0) has blossomed into one of the lightweight division's brightest young stars. The Season Four Tournament finalist possesses some of the sharpest boxing at 155lbs and is well-versed in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but saw himself fall short to tournament winner and eventual promotion champion Michael Chandler, when he failed to stop the NCAA wrestler's greatest asset, his takedowns.
Now shifting his attention to UFC veteran Kurt Pellegrino - who he will meet this Saturday at Bellator 59 at the Caesars Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey - Freire hopes to put on display the improvements made to his overall game.
“The two biggest lessons I learned in my fight with Michael Chandler were that I needed to improve my takedown defense and my conditioning... Fighting another wrestler has definitely made me focus more energy on my takedown defense leading into this fight; who knows, maybe he’s underestimating me a little and thinks he’ll take me down like Chandler did or make me gas. If that’s what he’s thinking, he will be very surprised. I’m not the same. I’ve worked hard to improve all aspects of my game, especially my flaws. I’m better at everything compared to last time I fought.”
Training alongside some of the most influential Brazilian veterans in the sport's young history, Freire needn't look far to find examples of the kind of competitor he strives to become. With a dependent young family back home in Brazil, motivation has never been higher for the title-hopeful.
“If I feel pain and I’m suffering while I’m training, I look at the guys who train more than me and have gone through tougher situations than I did. The biggest examples are "Minotauro," "Minotoro" and Anderson Silva. I admire other fighters, but these are the ones I try to mirror the most.”
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