Patricio and Patricky Pitbull Credit: Bellator M
Patricio Pitbull relinquishes championship to give brother Patricky a title shot
Sibling love is reigning supreme in the Bellator MMA lightweight division.
On Wednesday afternoon it was announced by Bellator president Scott Coker, on The MMA Hour, that lightweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire will be relinquishing his title for his brother. A lightweight matchup between Particky Freire and Peter Queally will now be for the vacant title.
Patricio won the lightweight title two years ago when he defeated Michael Chandler via TKO at Bellator 221. At the time, he was also holding the featherweight title. Freire never defended the 155-pound title because he was a participating member of the Bellator featherweight Grand Prix for the better part of a year. Patricio lost that 145-pound strap in the Grand Prix when he was handed his first loss in three years by AJ McKee. Patricio is now deciding to vacate the lightweight title and took to Twitter to explain why.
“Honor and family come first,” Freire wrote. “When I first won the LW belt it was just about revenge. It was still an honor, but with the loss at 145, I’m starting over. It’s time for the LW division to move on and for Patricky Pitbull to have his shot. My focus is on AJ and him only.”
Patricio is setting his sights on the featherweight division only. He joined Coker on The MMA Hour to state that he is actively looking for a rematch with McKee. Coker who was listening to Freire ask for the match said he thinks that negotiations for that bout are heading in the right direction.
The bout between Freire and Queally will serve as the main event of Bellator 270 on Nov. 5 at the 3Arena in Dublin. Originally the fight was going to be the co-main event with James Gallagher vs. Patchy Mix headlining. Instead, the two bouts will swap places.
