Fighting Words: Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire — “I’ll Be Very Mad. Then I’ll Declare War On Everyone.”

By Melinda Evette

A Bellator MMA lightweight fighter since 2011, Patricky “Pitbull” Freire used to let his ability to knock out his opponents do the advertising. Fighting out of Natal, Brazil, Patricky was one of the few Bellator fighters who flourished under Bjorn Rebney’s tournament system. With wins over former WEC champion Rob McCullough and tournament veteran Toby Imada, Patricky earned his way to the Lightweight Tournament Finals at Bellator 44, where he met Michael Chandler. He lost to Chandler by decision.

Patricky regrouped and came back to beat Kurt Pellegrino and face Eddie Alvarez at Bellator 76. As predicted by pundits and fans alike, the fight did not last long. Someone was bound to get stopped violently; unfortunately it was Patricky who would suffer a technical knockout.

There was a short period in his Bellator career that he was inactive due to injury, but when he returned, he did so with a vengeance. Freire doled out back to back knockouts of David Rickels and Derek Anderson before being matched with upcoming title challenger Marcin Held. Held defeated Patricky at Bellator 126 in September 2014 via unanimous decision.

Until recently, Patricky was very reserved when it came to publicity. His social media accounts were mostly used for family pictures and fight announcements. That has changed dramatically. Every fighter who wants an argument gets more than expected. Often humorous yet biting, his comments have caused a few verbal wars with other athletes.

Bellator Lightweight Champion Will Brooks recently expressed his frustration and anger with both Patricky and his brother Patricio Freire. After asking for a ceasefire on Twitter, Brooks did not take kindly to Patricky’s rejection of his peace offering. The Twitter fight ended with Brooks threatening out of competition violence on the Freires.

I’m not normally a fan of such behavior, but the apparent public meltdown of dominant champion Will Brooks was intriguing. I contacted Patricky’s management and requested an interview:

The vast majority of your professional wins come by way of knockouts; you certainly have power and accuracy in striking with only one loss by submission. How often do you train jiu jitsu and what is your ‘rank’ — brown belt, black belt etc.?

Patricky Freire: When I don’t have a fight coming up I train jiu jitsu every day. When I’m in camp I train twice or three times a week. I’m a black belt.

You were one of the few fighters we got to see compete multiple times under Rebney’s tournament system; you had 7 fights under that system. It seemed, in theory, that a tournament fighter had a clear path to the belt if Bellator honored the original principle and tournament winners faced the current champion. Do you miss the tournaments?

PF: I miss the tournaments. But I wish they had a bigger interval between fights. The way it is now whoever speaks better, whoever talks trash gets the title shot. With the tournament it was all about winning it and getting your shot.

Do you have a clear path to get to a title fight? What is it?

PF: Beating up my opponents easily. I’ll knock them all down. That’s an easy and fast way.

I’ve noticed you interacting with opposing fighters more openly on Twitter. It seems that the well known Pitbull fighters are doing a lot of that recently. From Bethe Correia in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) baiting Ronda Rousey into a fight with the popular 4 finger countdown, to you and Patricio in Bellator going to verbal war with Will Brooks and Saad Awad. What is the reason for, what is for you at least, the public insults and trash talk with opponents?

PF: If you don’t talk you are forgotten. A fighter needs to promote himself. But these things are genuine, these guys got offended for small things and started talking crap, we won’t stay silent. Just as we fight in the cage, we fight outside of it. If you talk crap you’re gonna hear back.

Your brother Patricio has talked about his desire to become a multiple-division champion at featherweight and lightweight. If that comes to fruition, what is your game plan? Will you put your title dreams on hold or fight your brother for the title? Leave the organization to pursue your title goal elsewhere?

PF: I’m taking things one step at a time. If the time comes we’ll think about it. I also plan to drop to featherweight and have fights there in the future. Who knows if I’ll fight my brother then.

Bellator is one of only two major mixed martial arts promotions that have events in middle America. Do you enjoy the travel? Any desire to fight in your home country? Other than your brother, do you bring any other family members with you to the US to see your fights?

PF: Some travels are not very comfortable because we have to take several connecting flights. It’s very tiresome to lose weight and to train. But it’s part of the life we chose, so we can’t complain much. The only person of my family I bring to my fight is Patricio because he’s my cornerman. I have a great desire to bring in my wife, my daughters and my parents, but unfortunately I can’t afford that yet.

Do you ever come to the states to train, or is it all done in Brazil?

PF: I’ve been in the US just a few times. My camps are basically all in Natal at Pitbull Brothers. Train in the US didn’t bring me much luck, the few times I did it I lost.

There was a time when a fighter wasn’t considered the best until they fought in the UFC and won a title in that particular promotion. Do you have similar feelings, or are you content to remain in Bellator?

PF: I’m happy with being in Bellator. I disagree with the assessment that all the best fighters are in the UFC. I’m sure several Bellator fighters, me included, can beat several UFC fighters and become the top ranked guys there.

The new changes in sponsorship and uniforms in the UFC caused a lot of people to speculate that the UFC roster will thin out with fighters opting not to re-sign and going to Bellator instead. How do you feel about the recent signings of former UFC fighters?

PF: I’m happy with them. They’ll see Bellator is not second tier. And if I have to beat one after another of them to prove it I’ll happily do it.

Are you wary at all that those fighters are coming into Bellator from the UFC off of a loss but they might jump ahead of you in title matchups due to popularity with the fans?

PF: If this happens I’ll be very mad. Then I’ll declare war against everyone. Popularity shouldn’t make you jump the line. I think first they have to beat someone important here to fight for the belt.

Patricky Freire faces fellow lightweight Saad Awaad at Bellator 141. The fight will be broadcast live and free on Spike TV. Follow Patricky on Twitter and Instagram.