A little less than two weeks removed from the loss to Usman Nurmagomedov that cost him the Bellator lightweight crown, Patricky Freire has come to the conclusion that he overestimated his opponent.
"After watching the fight a couple of times, I have no doubt that my mistake was giving too much respect to his name,” Freire told Sherdog.com. “I was so concerned about exposing myself to the takedown that I didn’t impose my game. I should have fought all rounds like I did in the fifth.”
Freire ultimately dropped a five-round verdict to the cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov at Bellator 288 on Nov. 18. In hindsight, “Pitbull” believes he faced a more difficult test in camp than he did on fight night.
"There is no way to compare his wrestling skills to my main sparring partner in the camp, Kennedy Monday,” Freire said. “Besides being more explosive, Monday was much more technical than Usman in wrestling, and he is taller. I truly hope Usman enters in the lightweight grand prix. I can’t wait to have my revenge.”
“Pitbull” is now in the process of recovering from a pelvis injury that hindered him for the past three months, and he plans to begin training hard for the lightweight grand prix in January. If Nurmagomedov enters the tournament, Freire hopes his former foe is on the same side of the bracket as him.
"Tofiq Musayev and Alexander Shabliy are tougher and more complete than him. If he faces one of them before [me], I´ll probably not have my revenge next year,” Freire said.
Freire revealed that he met with Musayev before the fight, and the Azerbaijan native gave him a few tips on how to beat his former training partner.
"They already trained together, but looks like something happened and they don’t have a good relationship anymore since Musayev told me: ‘This family (Nurmagomedov) cannot dominate the sport,’” Freire said.
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