Patricky Freire on Brother’s Weight Drop: ‘I Believe More in Patricio Than in Myself’

The “Pitbull” brothers of Bellator MMA may be considering a four-division championship reign.

Entering the lightweight grand prix, ex-champ Patricky Freire had goals of winning his title back. In November 2022, Freire surrendered his throne to the unbeaten Usman Nurmagomedov, who handled him on the scorecards at Bellator 288. The Brazilian joined the 155-pound tournament, and found himself matched against former featherweight titleholder A.J. McKee. The two will be competing at the co-promoted Bellator vs. Rizin Fighting Federation event on July 30 in Saitama, Japan. The two leagues will run an event that will feature both a ring and a cage, and McKee vs. Freire will be held inside of a cage under the Unified Rules of MMA. Freire spoke to Sherdog about his upcoming fight as well as his brother’s, Patricio Freire.

“Fighting in Japan again will be great, unfortunately Rizin rules will not be allowed,” Freire relayed with disappointment. “I would love to face A.J. with stomps and soccer kicks available.”

Freire had traveled to Tokyo to promote the event, but before then, he was in Colombia seeking stem cell treatment. The Brazilian suffered an injury during training that required this kind of medical recovery, and it shocked him at how effective it was in helping.

“I was having a very hard time with a pubis bruise that harmed all my camp for the fight against Nurmagomedov,” he explained. “Since then, I have been training with only 30% of my capacity. But after that treatment in Colombia, my life changed. Three days after the stem cell application, the pain stopped, and I started to train normally. Unfortunately, I couldn't show my best version to Usman, but it will not happen against McKee.”

In the meantime, his younger brother, the former two-division champion, will attempt to make MMA history soon. On June 16, Patricio will vie for the bantamweight throne against Sergio Pettis, all while the bantamweight prix crowed an interim beltholder in the form of Patrick Mix. Freire revealed that his brother is well on track for his first move to 135 pounds.

“Patricio has already reached 66 kg (145 pounds) today,” Freire revealed. “I just returned from the academy, and got really impressed by how sharp and well-prepared he is. To tell you the truth, I think he is better now than at featherweight. And he is so motivated with the excellent weight cut that he told me he is considering going down to Bellator’s new division, flyweight, in case he wins the bantamweight belt.”

The longtime Bellator lightweight was not short on confidence for his younger brother to get it done, and he did not mince words about the subject.

“To tell you the truth, I believe more in Patricio than in myself,” the former lightweight champion admitted.

Patricky also told Sherdog that the level of sparring at Pitbull Brothers was raised the last few weeks, courtesy of some new recruits and guests to bolster the team.

“We got Henry Cejudo and Tracy Cortez training with us,” “Pitbull” stated. “And today, Paulo 'Borrachinha' Costa is arriving to do his camp here in Natal.”

When asked to choose results for his fight with McKee and his brother’s match against Pettis, Patricky was sharp.

“I believe both of us will decide the fight in the first three rounds,” Freire declared with confidence. “I believe I’ll knock out A.J., and my brother will beat Pettis; I just can’t say precisely if via submission or knockout.”