Patricio Freire takes media to task for rankings
Patricio Freire: ” It’s about the fighter, not where they fight, and high-level competition is everywhere – in some places more than others, but there are elites everywhere.”
Bellator featherweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire recently spoke with John Morgan for MMAJunkie about media rankings of the best fighters in mixed martial arts. His older brother, Patricky “Pitbull” Freire competes in Bellator’s lightweight division.
I think the media overvalues the UFC and doesn’t give much credit to other fighter,” said Freire. “Compare the records of the fighters from other organizations and you’ll see you are ranking guys wrong. Tell me how Pat Curran is behind Ricardo Lamas. What’s the logic in it? How is Conor McGregor ahead of Daniel Straus? If Straus was a UFC fighter, the UFC wouldn’t want McGregor anywhere near him. McGregor is good, and he may even have a bright future. But let’s be real here. If he didn’t talk so much, would he be so up in the rankings?
Show the sport of MMA some respect. Everyone said the WEC guys would take beatings in the UFC; now they are the top fighters. Why do you think it can’t happen with us? Same thing happened with Strikeforce. And people said PRIDE guys were the best, but the UFC guys had success. It’s about the fighter, not where they fight, and high-level competition is everywhere – in some places more than others, but there are elites everywhere. There’s WSOF, ONE FC, etc. If you doubt some of the guys I beat in Bellator, check the other top-10’s opponents. If it was so absolute, the rankings would never change. New signings would never win in the UFC and so on.
Bellator is reminding me of PRIDE. I’m sure the best things are yet to come and I’m very confident about it.”
When a fan thinks someone is 1 or 10 I understand, but when it’s ‘specialized media,’ it frustrates me. We, the fighters, only have the media to promote our job and give us our deserved space. If someone disagree with me, all you have to do is prove with good arguments, numbers, quality of opponents, why am I not, for now – I’ll soon be No. 1 – the No. 2. So please media guys, work for the sport, not for the UFC.
If I was in the UFC and had a big mouth, with my results, I would be No. 1. What are some people’s logic to rank McGregor ahead of me, Curran, Straus and many others? Look at my results. If I was 10-2 in the UFC, there would be no argument, even if I had beat competition inferior to what I have. The media gives so much importance to where you fight that if a guy beats one can or debuting fighter in the UFC, it would be more valuable than someone coming on Bellator and beating a top guy. That’s not right.
Patricio fights Daniel Straus on Jan 16 in the main event of Bellator 132 in in Temecula, Calif. He hopes that will be the first of four fights in 2015. Further, he expressed a willingness to look at oportunities anywhere from 135-170.