Nothing went right for Patricio Freire at Bellator 263, but with one belt still around his waist, the former champ-champ is taking it in stride.
Freire lost by submission to A.J. McKee in the main event in less than two minutes, dropping his featherweight title and finishing as the runner-up in the featherweight grand prix.
Despite losing the fight and the hardware that would have come along with it, “Pitbull” isn’t taking the loss too hard and credited his opponent for a job well done.
“On this night, he was great,” Freire said during the post-fight news conference with his coach and young son sitting by his side. “He kicked my head, and he almost knocked me out, and he almost finished me. He was good, congratulations.”
Freire was in good spirits, almost as if he didn’t just wind up on the wrong end of a standing guillotine in one of the biggest fights in Bellator history. With his beautiful family and smiling son by his side, it’s hard to stay too upset at what unfolded inside the cage, and used the result as a teachable moment for his child.
“I already told him, ‘Son, it’s a bad day, but it’s part of the life,'” Friere said. “He’s a happy little boy and he doesn’t understand very well, but I know he’s going to remember this.”
As for what’s next for “Pitbull”, his next step could go in a number of directions. Still the current Bellator lightweight champion and having just lost to a big featherweight who has a hard time making the cut, it begs the question if Friere would want to run it back immediately with McKee at 155 pounds.
“I know he’s big, I know he has trouble cutting weight,” Freire said. “Let’s think about it. I have a belt. I’m still a world champion.”
Friere became the lightweight champ by defeating Michael Chandler by knockout in the first round at Bellator 221 in 2019. Since then, he ran through the featherweight grand prix, racking up three title defenses on the way to the final on Saturday.
Although he wasn’t opposed to the thought of his first lightweight title defense coming against McKee, Freire wants to take a short break and sort out his next move before committing to anything in the moment.
“I want to rest a little bit, enjoy my son, my wife, but I will come back stronger.”
Watch the full post-fight press conference with Freire in the video above.
