Patricky Freire Hopes Bellator Makes Decision on Status of Lightweight Belt Soon

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.”