Patricio “Pitbull” Freire: ‘Everything is going to change including the champion’

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Bellator MMA returns this weekend with a stellar fight card live and free on Spike TV this Friday evening. In the main event of Bellator 123, the featherweight title is on the line as Pat Curran looks to defend his belt against the familiar foe in Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.

Curran and Pitbull first fought for the title back at Bellator 85 in early 2013. After a close five round affair, the judges awarded the split decision to Curran. Since then, Pitbull has been on a tear winning four fights in a row, and is ready to take the title this weekend in the rematch.

“This is the best moment of my career,” Pitbull told FightHubTV in an interview earlier today. “I am very excited. I know Scott Coker is going to go down in Bellator history for changing the promotion, and I want to be the first man he puts that belt around. Everything is going to change including the champion.”

Curran and Freire were engaged in a heated Twitter battle about a month and a half ago, but ever since then both sides have cooled off on the trash talk.

“Maybe he was thinking the same thing that I was,” Freire stated candidly. “There was a lot that was said, but in the end you have to stop and just train. When you are training you realize that you have to come into the fight with as little emotion as possible. There is no point in the back and forth anymore, you have to focus.”

Pitbull has been waiting for his title shot for quite some time, which has resulted in him not fighting yet in 2014. Although it has been a while since he has stepped in the cage, Pitbull is not worried about ring rust.

“Ya I have not fought for ten months, but I have compensated for that in the gym. I have been sparring, I feel great and in shape, so I probably will not have any rust in there. I guess we will have to wait and see this Friday.”

Prior to the fight going down on Friday, both Curran and Pitbull need to make weight Thursday to make the bout official. As we saw this past weekend, fellow Brazilian Renan Barao failed to make weight and was forced out of his title fight at UFC 177 because of medical complications during his weight cut. When asked about his weight cut and what Barao potentially did wrong, Freire explained that it is all about strategy.

“It all comes down to strategy and studying. When you cut weight, you have to first learn the best way to do it,” Freire continued. “There was a point in my career where I was heavier and I had difficulty making the featherweight limit. But I went back and I implemented a strategy, I looked at what I needed to do, and now I have no trouble making the weight. Maybe [Renan] made a mistake, maybe he did not have the right strategy, but it’s hard for me to say because I don’t know exactly what happened with Barao.”

Bellator 123 goes down live from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut on Spike TV this Friday night.