Bellator double champion, Patricio Pitbull is set to return to action this weekend at Bellator 263 as he takes on AJ Mckee. Patricio is the younger brother of lightweight contender Patricky. He is most certainly one of the biggest superstars to compete under the Bellator MMA banner.
But the road to the top hasn’t always been so smooth for the double champion. Especially, he has endured a lot of difficulties in his childhood. The Friere family used to live in a two-bedroom apartment in Brazil. 8 Siblings used to share one bedroom whereas the parents lived in the other room.
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When Patricio was 5 years old, the family suffered a bandit attack. The incident caused a deep trauma on Patricio and even to this day, he suffers to get sleep at night.
Bandit attack on Patricio Freire’s family
Patricio’s older brother Patricky had explained the cause behind the attack before. Someone spread the rumor that their father had a gun collection. That news wasn’t true.
“Someone spread a rumor my father had a collection of guns, It wasn’t true. But that’s why they targeted him even though he was a police officer. They wanted to steal the guns they thought he had. It was a night of terror. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it,” he said.
“When I was in the living room and saw the window in the boy’s room was open, I didn’t second-guess. We always kept it closed at night, so I knew they had opened it from the outside. I stood by the door, and as soon as one of them tried to make his way in, I shot him. I felt it was a do-or-die situation. I was protecting my family, and it was the right thing to do. I’d do it all over again,” said Patricio’s mom recalling the incident.
“She shot him right between the eyes. I saw the whole thing, My mother told my father about what happened, and he said she was mistaken, she was just imagining she had hit him. But in the morning, he went around the house and saw the bandit’s body lying there,” said Patricio recalling the incident.
The Brazilian further added that he went to see the bandit laid down with his head crumbled. That made him more matured and he said he became a ‘man’ at the age of 5.
Patricio’s wife, Teresa Silva Freire
Patricio keeps his personal life rather private. He is married to Teresa Silva. They had lost a child previously due to miscarriage. But the pair currently has two children, namely Davi and Miguel.
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Davi is the older one of the two. He was born in 2015. Miguel, the younger son was born not so long ago in 2020. Whether any of their children follow Patricio’s footsteps and decide to join the sport of MMA, remains to be seen.
Can Pitbull get past A.J. Mckee this weekend? Let us know your thoughts.
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