Bellator hosts a rare Saturday night fight card this weekend. The SAP Center, San Jose, California is the place to be as the Viacom owned promotion has put together one of the best night of fights in the company’s history.
Roy Nelson makes his in cage debut against a game Javy Ayala in what will no doubt be a heavyweight slugfest. Lorenz Larkin is still looking for his first win inside the Bellator cage, and the hard-hitting Englishman Paul Daley will have something to say about that.
In the main event Benson Henderson will try to become the only man to ever hold victories over both ‘Pitbull’ brothers, as he takes on elder brother Patricky in a lightweight title eliminator.
Cageside Press caught up with Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire a few days before his main event at Bellator 183.
The last time we saw Pitbull in action he was delivering a perfectly placed uppercut to the chin of Josh Thomson. He will need to be on his A-game if he plans on finishing Henderson.
“My camp has been perfect,” said Pitbull. “Everything went according to plan, of course I’m always looking for something more. I always feel I should’ve done more work, but I am well prepared and I can’t wait to get in the cage.”
Even the elite sometimes question themselves, that’s one thing that makes them so special.
MMA is a strange sport, in that fighters seem to reach their primes at all different ages. At 31 years old, how does the elder Freire brother feel?
“I feel I’m just now in my prime” Pitbull said. “When I turned 30 (years old) I felt my skills and conditioning getting better, everything has been improving so much. Everything is closer to the peak, I will be prepared for my opponent.”
One opponent the Brazilian has a tough time putting in the past is Michael Chandler. “It’s personal to me, I want to overcome that loss,” Patricky said. “That war isn’t over, I want to beat him and in some ways, it doesn’t matter if he has the belt or he doesn’t have the belt.”
No one would be mad if those two warriors squared off again in the Bellator cage. But first comes Saturday night’s clash with Benson Henderson. What is Pitbull expecting?
“He (Henderson) is a great fighter, I’m very excited and nervous heading into this fight, I’m looking forward to it” said Freire. “I think it will be a great fight, I expect him to be ready for war.”
We also expect a war from these two men; both guys come to fight and both are entertaining fighters. You might want to get to the bathroom before the main event starts, because this one may very well end quick.
In fact, Pitbull has a piece of advice for the viewers, “don’t blink, my victory will be explosive!”
Well, we’re not going to argue with that.
Bellator 183 takes place Saturday September 23 live and free on Spike TV, with the main card kicking off at 8PM CST/9PM EST.
