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Patricio “Pitbull” Freire will challenge for Michael Chandler’s Bellator lightweight title at Bellator 221 in Rosemont, Illinois, on Saturday.
The prelims start at 6:30 p.m. ET and the main card starts at 9 p.m. ET. Neither will be televised on regular cable in the United States, but you can watch a live stream of all the fights on DAZN, which has two sign-up options:
You can start a monthly subscription of DAZN for $19.99 right here. It’s automatically renewed at that price each month, but you’re able to cancel anytime. With the one-month subscription, you’ll also get Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz Jr (June 1) and Gennady Golovkin vs Steve Rolls (June 8), which are both exclusively on DAZN in the US.
Or you can start a yearly subscription for $99.99 right here. Obviously, if you plan on keeping DAZN long-term, this is the far superior value and better long-term investment (especially with Golovkin, Joshua, Canelo Alvarez and future Bellator events exclusively on DAZN), as it comes out to about $8.33 per month.
Once you’ve signed up for DAZN, you can watch Bellator 221 live on your computer via DAZN.com, or on your phone, tablet, smart TV, Roku, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the DAZN app.
And if you can’t watch live, you’ll be able to watch the fight on-demand via DAZN, as well.
Bellator 221 Preview
Freire has long maintained that Chandler uses performance-enhancing drugs, contributing to their longtime feud. He doubled down on that theory after T.J. Dillashaw failed a drug test ahead of UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw.
Dillashaw, who’s trained with Chandler, surrendered his UFC bantamweight title and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency suspended him for two years.
Freire, who’s in the midst of his second stint as Bellator’s featherweight champion, is moving up a weight class in an attempt to become a two-weight champ.
“This is a fight between champion versus champion and it needs to be fair,” Freire said, according to MMA Fighting. “In my opinion, they [work with the same people], they’re training partners, and he could be doing the same thing as T.J. Because imagine T.J.’s being tested by USADA and he’s in trouble now possibly for adverse findings — imagine Michael Chandler, who’s not even tested at all, imagine what he could be on.
“He’s not young anymore, and as he gets older, he keeps getting more ripped and getting more stronger and he looks more like a bodybuilder than a fighter.”
Unlike UFC fighters, Bellator fighters aren’t subject to USADA drug tests, which can be administered at random.
“His legacy is doping. That’s his legacy,” Freire added. “He’s done this all by doping. He knows it. He knows he just needs to be random tested and you’ll see. That’s it. That’s why he didn’t join the UFC, because he’s avoiding USADA.”
Chandler said he worked out with Dillashaw once, adding, “It’s not like he’s my boy.”
“There’s absolutely no validity whatsoever,” Chandler said, according to MMA Fighting. “I’ve never touched a performance-enhancing drug. The good thing is, I can sit back and see the accusations and see the things people say. Any sane person would say that’s a feather in my cap: ‘You obviously look so good or you’re such a conditioned athlete that people accuse you of those kinds of things.’ For him to say that, I don’t really understand where his basis is. All he’s ever said is ‘I think he’s using them’ or ‘He is using them.’”
Chandler and Freire are tied for the most wins and title wins in the history of the promotion, with 16 and six.
“I think this is definitely the biggest fight in Bellator history,” Chandler said, according to ESPN. “When you talk about accolades of the two fighters, when you talk about the tenure of the two fighters, when you talk about two guys who have always consistently performed and put on a show.”
Chandler claimed the lightweight title from Freire’s brother Patricky Freire in June 2016. He lost the belt to Brent Primus after one defense, then reclaimed it from Primus in December 2018.
“He mentions himself as the greatest,” Freire said, per ESPN. “But he didn’t have the audacity to go up in weight class and fight a champion that’s bigger than him. And that’s what I’m doing for a second time. He doesn’t have the courage that I do.”
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