Bellator tourney finalist Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire vows to become ‘progressively more violent’

When Bellator featherweight Patricio Freire enters the cage, his goal is simple: defeat his opponent in the most destructive fashion possible.

More often than not, Freire (20-2 MMA, 8-2 BMMA) is successful in accomplishing that goal, and he hopes to continue the trend against Justin Wilcox (13-5 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) in the Season 9 featherweight tournament final on Friday at Bellator 108, which airs on Spike TV from Revel Atlantic City in New Jersey.

Freire’s path to the tournament final has been a smooth one: He knocked out Diego Nunes in two minutes and then outpointed Fabricio Guerreiro for a decision win.

Since losing to Pat Curran for Bellator’s 145-pound title in January, the Brazilian has been on a hot streak. “Pitbull” credits his current momentum to the split-decision defeat, which was just the second loss of his professional career.

“Ever since I lost that decision to Pat Curran, I am progressively more violent,” Freire told MMAjunkie. “My aggressiveness during combat will continue to increase.”

The knockout of Nunes was particularly impressive due to the fact his fellow Brazilian had never been finished in 11 career UFC/WEC fights.

Even when facing some of the world’s top-ranked fighters, no one was able to defeat Nunes quite like Freire did, which raised questions about the quality of fighters in each organization. After the win some spectators wondered how Freire’s skills would stack up against UFC-caliber competition.

The 26-year-old said he doesn’t concern himself with such matters, though, and said he considers rankings a meaningless aspect of the sport.

“There’s no difference between the top featherweight fighters in the UFC and those in Bellator,” Freire said. “Various Bellator fighters could beat UFC fighters, and vice versa. So to rank us lower than them is malicious. Various UFC fighters couldn’t finish Diego Nunes, but I knocked him out. So rankings mean nothing to me.”

Friday’s contest marks Freire’s 11th appearance under the Bellator banner and his third tournament final overall. A win would earn Freire the opportunity to challenge Daniel Straus for the featherweight title, but only if the newly crowned champion can defend against Season 8 tournament winner Magomedrasul Khasbulaev.

Having a challenger ahead of him could delay Freire’s championship fight into mid-2014, in which case he would hope to get another fight beforehand.

“If my bout with the champion is scheduled for the middle of the year, I would probably request a super fight,” Freire said. “I have to discuss that with my team.”

For now, though, Freire is focused on quickly defeating Wilcox for what would be his second tournament championship in just over two years.

“It’s always best to finish an opponent as quickly as possible,” Freire said. “Justin showed a lot of toughness and willpower in this tournament, so I am getting ready for a war.”

For the latest on Bellator 108, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.