Next Saturday night (Feb. 18) Bellator will hold its third event of 2017.
The main event of Bellator 172 will feature the return of Fedor Emelianenko on U.S. soil. He’ll be matched up with former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight Matt Mitrione inside the SAP Center in San Jose, California.
Lightweights Josh Thomson and Patricky Freire will do battle in the co-main event. The crowd is certain to be on Thomson’s side as he was born in San Jose. It’ll be “Pitbull’s” second fight in San Jose and fourth bout in the state of California.
MMANews.com’s Tim Thompson recently caught up with Freire to get his thoughts on the bout. “Pitbull” is expecting a barn burner:
“I’m good, I’m pretty well mentally and physically. I’m sure it’s going to be one hell of a fight on February 18th.”
“The Punk” is no stranger to the bright lights. He is a former Strikeforce lightweight champion and has competed against elite talent in the UFC. Arguably his biggest win was his dominant TKO victory over Nate Diaz back in April 2013.
Freire was complimentary of his opponent. In fact, he doesn’t agree with some of the decision losses Thomson suffered in the UFC. Freire also feels he’s the first fighter to give Thomson a stern test under the Bellator banner.
“I think he’s a great fighter and from his three losses in the UFC, I only thought he lost one of those. He has a KO over one of the top three lightweights in the UFC. So he’s a very accomplished guy. In Bellator he had what I believed was a tuneup fight to get him back on track to improve his record. Now it’s the first time he’s fighting someone who is a threat for him in the Bellator cage. So we’ll see how that goes.”
You can listen to our full interview with “Pitbull” below:
