From Spectator to Breathtaker

UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- In referring to much more than his performance on Saturday night, Patricky Freire simply said that everything was perfect.

In a graceful but violent display that earned him a spot in the finals of Bellator Fighting Championships’ lightweight tournament, Freire knocked two-time tournament runner-up Toby Imada stiff with a blistering flying knee and left hook.

The native of Natal, a city on the northeastern Brazil coastline, roared in testosterone-laced celebration. But just a few minutes later, when “Pitbull” was approached for an in-cage interview, his voice cracked and tears welled in his eyes.

“I’m now in the final; it was my dream all the time, so it was a big emotion for me,” Freire, 25, said after the fight. “Now it’s really happening.”

Although he has yet to win the Bellator lightweight tournament and secure a title shot, Freire was on the tip of interviewer Jimmy Smith’s tongue when interviewing champion Eddie Alvarez after his successful main event title defense over Pat Curran.

“Patricky’s super dangerous in the first,” Alvarez said of Freire. “I’m looking forward to fighting that guy.”

Interesting, that “in the first” part. After repeatedly dropping former WEC lightweight champion Rob McCullough in the first round of their fight last month, Freire slowed in the second as his veteran opponent established a rhythm. A waffling right hook in the third, though, halted the shift in momentum.

“If [Alvarez] thinks I’m dangerous in the first round, if I were about to fight him, I would train to be dangerous in all five,” Freire said.

“It looks like Eddie did not see his fight against Rob,” piped up his brother, 23-year-old Bellator featherweight Patricio Freire, also the proud son of a Brazilian police colonel from modest means.

Patricky Freire’s style, power and varied skill set present an opportunity for Bellator to craft a believable challenger for Alvarez, the promotion’s top star who’s looked bulletproof thus far fighting for the fledgling, tournament-based promotion. After lamping McCullough and becoming the first man to soundly knock out 13-year veteran Imada on Saturday, Freire now faces the winner of a fight next week between Lloyd Woodard and Michael Chandler.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney seized on the alignment between Alvarez and Freire’s performances in the postfight news conference. Rebney recalled receiving a link to an Internet video of Patricky’s brother fighting in Brazil. He signed Patricio for last season’s featherweight tournament, and soon was preparing a contract for his brother.

“The first time [Patricio] came over, he told me about a Brazilian liqueur I needed to try and about this brother,” Rebney recalled. “He said his striking is better and his jiu-jitsu is better and he’s bigger than I am.”

Working with Patricio and their late manager Ivan Canello, Rebney signed Freire to the lightweight bracket. This is where the tears he shed in the cage start to make sense.

“I finally got happy, because I thought the rest of my life would be watching my brother fighting,” Patricky said.

Freire tore a knee ligament in training early his career, and won his first five fights on the injured joint. Asked why Freire fought with the injury instead of getting it repaired, his friend and translator Matheus Aquino responded, “He couldn’t,” while rubbing together his thumb and index finger -- the international hand symbol for money.

With a wife and child to support, Freire stopped viewing fighting as a way to potentially pay the bills. He took jobs on construction sites, tracking materials for 12 hours a day.

“He tried to train too and fight, but it was difficult [for] him,” Aquino said. “He didn’t have motivation to do that. He wanted to try, but he really wasn’t seeing much future. If he had a loss, he probably wouldn’t fight no more.”

The lone blemish on Freire’s 9-1 record came when he lost a technical decision to UFC veteran Willamy “Chiquerim” Freire in September 2007. Aquino claims the card was promoted by Chiquerim’s manager and sponsor, in his home city of Fortaleza.

Aquino alleges “Chiquerim” had oil on his body in the fight, and a substance on his gloves that burned Freire’s eyes when they made contact and rendered his eyes difficult to keep open. In third round, both fighters fell and required a doctor’s attention. Chiquerim reportedly refused to continue, claiming Freire was knocked out. It went to the judges. One judge scored it a draw, two for Chiqerim.

“In Brazil there is no one that look into that, so it happens a lot,” alleged Freire. “Vaseline on your body, everything like that. People robbing on decisions, weak stoppages ... Here everything is perfect. The cage, the lights, the people looking at everything, the commission. So it was perfect for us to fight here.”

Freire is headed to San Diego next to train at the new Team Nogueira gym, helmed by legendary heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He and his brother will train there until Patricio’s next fight, an April 16 rematch with fellow Brazilian Wilson Reis in the semifinal round of Bellator’s featherweight tournament.

“[Patricio] always told me that I should come back,” Freire said through Aquino. “And that some day we would be champions, we would have this opportunity.”