Bizarre Bellator title triangle: Michael Chandler, Patricky Freire, Brent Primus battle on social media

Bellator’s lightweight title picture is a little complicated right now. But it’s been amusing to watch its main players trying to figure it out.

After a weird injury put an anti-climatic end to their Bellator NYC title encounter, a rematch seemed inevitable for champ Brent Primus and ex-champ Michael Chandler. But then Bellator 183 happened – and, with a win over former UFC champion and Bellator title challenger Benson Henderson, Patricky Freire crashed the party.

And then they all started airing some grievances on social media.

Freire (18-8 MMA, 11-7 BMMA) thinks he deserves a shot before Chandler – with whom he also welcome a rematch. Chandler (16-4 MMA, 13-4 BMMA), who actually has his eye on another Bellator division, apparently thinks both Primus and Freire are lame. And Primus (8-0 MMA, 6-0 BMMA), who doesn’t think the Earth is flat but does like puppies, would be OK with fighting either.

Confusing, we know, but we’ll walk you through it.

Before the meeting with Henderson even took place, Freire told MMAjunkie that he’d already had two appointments with Primus agreed to – and that the now-champ had avoided him twice.

Primus, however, politely disputed that account later – not without first congratulating Freire on his win. To which an equally polite Freire replied, leading Primus to gush about being a parent while at the same time sort of agreeing to hit another man in the face.

The atypically nice exchange wasn’t lost on Chandler, who wasn’t about to let this unfold without making his presence known. But, you know, in a somewhat less friendly manner than the two.

First, he talked to them directly.

And then Chandler made a separate post to air his feelings on the way the other two lightweights handled their business.

How the other half talks to each other. ____ "Congrats man" – "no seriously I respect you" – "I'm a dad" – "me too pal" – "gee golly, we should fight" – "I respect you man, let's not fight a real man" – "I agree, I'm all about lack of confrontation" – "me too man, respect" – "the earth is flat and puppies are the cutest" @brentprimus155 @patrickypitbull ___ @bellatormma #bellatormma #mma @rich_chou @dannybrener @jd_aguon @magllc @randelaleman @arielhelwani @marcraimondimma @mmajunkiegeorge @thegoze @lukethomasnews

A post shared by Michael Chandler (@mikechandlermma) on Sep 24, 2017 at 1:49pm PDT

Freire wasn’t about to extend Chandler, who knocked him out in a Bellator 157 co-headliner for the vacant 155-pound title, the same courtesy directed toward Primus. So he challenged the “pathetic” former champion to a rematch –  date suggestion included.

Primus also went out of his way to issue Chandler a response. After some shade about the former titleholder and the controversial leg injury (which, by the way, is a whole separate conversation) that put an end to their recent title match, the champ went on to clarify his stances on relevant matters such as: The shape of our planet, respect in martial arts and, most importantly, puppies.

@mikechandlermma your main concern should be not rolling your ankle if you're still going with that lame sorry a$$ excuse. And I could be a disrespectful little punk like you who belittles my opponents but there's enough guys like you in the sport as it is. Jiu jitsu and martial arts taught me respect! I respect my opponents even if I'm going to try and kill them in the cage! If it's you or @patrickypitbull or who ever I'll be ready. Earth isn't flat but damn I do like puppies?? @badboybrands @bellatormma @iridiumsports @teamoyama @performancemartialarts @gbportland • • • • #growup #humbleinvictory #humbleindefeat #notyou #soreloser #respect #martialarts

A post shared by Brent Primus (@brentprimus155) on Sep 24, 2017 at 3:09pm PDT

That particular three-way beef seems to be on hold for now, but not before some unsuspicious victims got caught in the cross-fire.

For complete coverage of Bellator 183, check out the MMA Events section of the site.

The Blue Corner is MMAjunkie‘s official blog and is edited by Mike Bohn.