Bellator featherweight and lightweight champion, Patricio Freire wants to fight UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
If they were to fight, ‘Pitbull’ believes he has the skillset to not only beat Nurmagomedov but knock him out.
“Khabib is very tough, has phenomenal wrestling and sambo, but he has a huge deficiency on the feet so I can catch him,” Patricio ‘Pitbull’ said to MMA Fighting. “Nothing is impossible. I think he’s very tough, 28-0, but another fighter from Rio Grande do Norte, [Gleison] Tibau, put on a very tough fight with him, and I think there’s a path to beat him. I believe we can do it. If my hand lands, and it would land, it’s over.”
Why he thinks that is simple. Patricio Freire says Khabib Nurmagomedov is the same fighter every fight and hasn’t evolved since. He knows he could close the distance and land the big knockout punch.
“He has the same fight pattern since his first fight,” Freire said. “He backs his opponent against the fence, moves, and shoots to the leg. No one has ever tried… Maybe someone did try to land a knee, but I don’t remember anyone getting close to landing. Iaquinta was doing well against him, moving well on the feet, but he was closing the distance the wrong way. I think I can close the distance better.”
For now though, it is all talk as the two are in different promotions but ‘Pitbull’ hopes that fight can happen.
