Daniel Straus on Bellator champ 'Pitbull': I would've 'smacked the sh-t out of him'

Bellator lightweight champion Patricio Freire had a run-in with Will Brooks earlier this week. Freire’s actual opponent, Daniel Straus, suggested the champ is lucky he didn’t run into him first.

On Wednesday, Patricio Freire (24-2 MMA, 12-2 BMMA) and brother Patricky Freire had a brief scuffle with lightweight champ Will Brooks (16-1 MMA, 9-1 BMMA), and they’re all pointing fingers when it comes to blame.

Freire and Brooks have developed a rivalry this year, but they’re obviously not fighting each other tonight at Bellator 145, which airs on Spike TV from St. Louis’ Scottrade Center. Lightweight champ Brooks fights Marcin Held (21-3 MMA, 10-2 BMMA) in the co-headliner, and featherweight titleholder Freire meets Straus (23-6 MMA, 10-3 BMMA) in the co-headliner.

Earlier this week, on the eve of the Freire-Brooks scuffle, Straus joined MMAjunkie Radio and was asked if he had yet run into Freire.

“Not yet,” Straus told MMAjunkie Radio. “Or it would be headlines all over Junkie about how I smacked the sh-t out of him.”

The fact “Pitbull” went on to scuffle with someone else probably isn’t a surprise to Straus.

“He can be a hothead all day,” Straus said. “At this point and at this level, it doesn’t do you any good. It’s not going to get you any more wins than losses. You’re not going to intimidate me.

“What he has to say, the way he walks, the way he carries himself – it doesn’t bother me. It annoys me, and it annoys a lot of people. But that’s him.”

Still, when they meet tonight and Straus tries to rebound from two past losses the Brazilian, he expects a tough fight. You don’t have to have to respect the person to respect the fighter, he said.

“We respect each other, but I don’t feel like we like each other,” he said.

Check out the full interview above.

And for more on Bellator 145, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

view original article >>