Last Friday night, fans were treated to more traditional fight card from Bellator where there was a build up to the main card and a mixture of weight classes represented. At the top of the card was a rematch between featherweight champ Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and former champ Daniel Straus. These two met a few years ago in a tournament final where Freire would take a highly contested unanimous decision over Straus. This time around would show the evolution of both men as fighters and the level of skill was definitely on show.
Throughout most of the opening round Straus was attempting to press the action and take the center of the cage to force Freire to move, which he did, quicker than Straus. The speed was a big mismatch in favor of the champ and this forced Straus to use his length and reach advantage to strike from different angles to work into heavier shots from close range. Unfortunately, a few unintentional low blows forced a point take away from Straus in the second round. This led to a more ground battle where Freire took more of an advantage and built up momentum heading into the third.
Heading into the third round is where the action started to get more and more interesting as Straus still landed big shots to the champs face. This is where Freire starts showing his championship mentality as he absorbed the punishment and took the fight to the mat to even out the round and keep the scores closer. This would continue into the championship rounds with Straus landing more big shots, even reopening up a cut over Pitbulls eye that was made in the third round. Straus would land a very nice left and put Freire to the mat which was followed by a scramble and more shots traded on the feet where the champ would take advantage. Straus was knocked down and nearly finished but a low blow was snuck in and referee John McCarthy had to halt the action tentatively. After the restart it didn’t take Pitbull long to get down to the mat and as Straus threatened with a kimura, Freire would sneak into back control and sunk in a rear naked choke to finish the fight. However, Pitbull would prove that the scores don’t matter as he worked himself into a choke with :11 seconds remaining in the fourth.
This was one of the better fights where Daniel Straus actually showed a complete game plan and even executed very well, except for his last mistake and letting a Jiu-Jitsu black belt get his back. A bigger showing from Pitbull where he weathered a very strong striking game from his opponent and still had the composure to bring the fight down to his forte’ and sink in a choke. After the fight Pitbull was obviously excited and gave Straus recognition as being one of the best fighters in the world but he stuck with his game plan, that was a better game plan and that’s what gave him the victory.
Another fight on this card was the featherweight bout between Bubba Jenkins and Georgi Karakhanyan with the winner getting the next shot at the champion. Karakhanyan had previously been fighting at World Series of Fighting in a hiatus from Bellator and now that he has returned, he has made a promise to take care of unfinished business. With this shot at Patricio Freire, that may be his “unfinished business.” These two men should be meeting sometime in the next 6 or 7 months hopefully and that will be a great fight to watch.
Check out Bellator 133: Shlemenko vs Manhoef on February 13th
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