Getty Conor McGregor poses after a news conference with lightweight contender Nate Diaz at UFC Gym February 24, 2016, in Torrance, California.
Bellator lightweight Patricky “Pitbull” Freire has taken aim at Irish UFC star Conor “Notorious” McGregor. Pitbull is set to headline Bellator Dublin 3 on October 3 against Peter Queally and he told Bloody Elbow that if he sees Notorious at the event, he will “have a surprise for him.”
Queally is McGregor’s teammate at Straight Blast Gym (SBG) Ireland, and there is no shortage of bad blood between the team and Pitbull and his brother, current Bellator featherweight and lightweight champion Patricio Freire.
In March, tempers flared between the brothers and SBG fighters including Queally, James Gallagher and Pedro Carvalho during a Bellator press conference. See a video of the verbal altercation below:
Team SBG Ireland and Pitbull Brothers need to be separated following today’s showcase.
If McGregor, who has cheered on teammates at Dublin events in the past, attends the event on October 3, Pitbull will be ready for it.
He told Bloody Elbow, “I know Conor will be sitting in the front row, just like he was last time. That does motivate me more. When I win this fight, I’ll have a surprise for him. There’s been some beef between me and Peter since the staredown in New York. Things got a little wild in the press conference. In fact, I was the one who started it. I attacked the SBG guys. This card that will happen in October will be Pitbull Brothers vs. SBG. One of those SBG guys, James Gallagher, he talks too much.”
“He’s always messing with me and my brother,” Pitbull continued. “I told him to stop messing with me, I’m two weight classes above him. I told him he was always running away from a guy from my gym. When I said that, things got wild. He’s always running away from Leandro Higo, I want Bellator to make that fight happen. I don’t know why it’s not booked for that card yet. I don’t know if he’s ducking Higo. If he took that fight, there would be a big chance of Gallagher losing.”
Pitbull Plans to Knockout Queally in October
Pitbull has a professional MMA record of 23-9 and he lost his last bout to Tofiq Musayev by unanimous decision, snapping a seven-fight win streak. Freire holds notable victories over the likes of former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, Josh Thomson and David Rickels.
Freire sees himself knocking out his Queally in October and beginning a new win streak. He told Bloody Elbow, “I’m absolutely sure I’ll knock him out. I’m not saying this because I underestimate him, it’s because of the moment I’m at right now. I’m very confident in my evolution as a fighter. I’m doing everything to evolve and I know I am. Everyone at the gym tells me that. My results speak for themselves. [Before Musayev] my last loss was in 2016 and I was on a seven-fight winning streak, with five knockouts. I took the Chandler fight on short notice. I stepped in for Josh Thomson.”
If He Beats Queally, Pitbull Wants to Rematch Former Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler
Should Pitbull get his hand raised on October 3, he wants a third fight with former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler. The fighters have competed twice with Chandler winning both times.
Chandler is currently a free agent but if he stays in Bellator, a trilogy bout makes sense to Freire.
Pitbull said to Bloody Elbow, “I’m the top contender in Bellator’s lightweight division. If Chandler wants to stay, he’ll have to fight me again. He’s been ducking for a long time. He even avoids saying my name. I think he even mentioned that on Brendan Schaub’s podcast. He said something about not liking to mention those guys’ names (meaning the Pitbull Brothers).”
“He ducks us because he knows that if he fights us, it’ll be a literal war.” Freire continued. “On the streets or anywhere else. When he was going to fight Patricio, we had to stay in separate hotels. They knew that tensions were high between us. There bodyguards around us and around him in case something happened at any time. That must be why he’s been avoiding saying my name, but he knows I’m the top contender in the division.”
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