Pedro Carvalho believes he’ll be the better-conditioned fighter when he battles Bellator featherweight champion Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire on Nov. 12.
“I do believe what I’m going to have in my favour is with no doubt my conditioning, my pace” Carvalho told MMANews. “These guys, when they reach the third round they start to slow down. When I reach the third round, I’m warmed up. I do believe that’s going to be the major thing in this fight is going to be me constantly on his face, Make him work and then when I found the breaking point I’m just going to pick my shots and put him away.”
Carvalho (11-3) was previously scheduled to fight Pitbull at Bellator 241 in March, only to have the event canceled hours before due to COVID-19. While it was a difficult pill to swallow, the 25-year-old didn’t let it phase him from becoming a world champion.
“It was tough on me when I got the news,” Carvalho explained. “But what is meant to be, it will never change. Me being the world champion is meant to be. It doesn’t matter if it was March 13th or now, it will happen. So that doesn’t bother me, I’ll just continue on. I always do training from Monday to Monday with no stopping. Only trying to be the best that I can and go out there. It will always be the same. My hand will be raised and I’ll be a world champion.”
The SBG Ireland product has remained undefeated since joining Bellator in 2018 and carries a six-fight win streak ahead of Bellator 252.
Freire (30-4) is currently riding a five-fight win streak, including a unanimous decision victory over current bantamweight champion Juan Archuleta at Bellator 228. The 33-year-old will be competing for the first time since Sept. 2019.
Despite a clear edge in experience, Carvalho believes his pace will be too much for the current featherweight champion.
“I’m going to make him work,” Carvalho said. “First I have to be smart because not only is dangerous, he’s a veteran and he has tons of experience. But I do see me making him him work and by round two I already have his kind of conditioning control on my point of view. By round three I have where I want exactly what I want and then I start to pick my shots and get the finish.”
Bellator 252 takes place on November 12th at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
