The MMA community came together to celebrate after the UFC announced the cards for UFC 314. One of the main card fights included Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire, the former Bellator champion, who had been appealing to the PFL for his release for months. With a new contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, ‘Pitbull’ has already set his eyes on the featherweight championship title. However, there’s a rivalry waiting for Freire in the UFC.

We’re indeed talking about the rivalry that Freire shares with Michael Chandler. The duo has already met once in Bellator FC. But do you know how their rivalry began? Well, it’s a story that dates back to 2011 and involves Chandler’s bouts with Freire’s older brother, Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire.

Michael Chandler defeats Patricky ‘Pitbull’ twice in Bellator

Chandler and Patricky Pitbull met for the first time at Bellator 44 in 2011 for the 155-pound championship title. Needless to say, the battle between the two was enough to raise the hype around the fighters and take the fight to greater levels of excitement. But even though ‘Pitbull’s older brother tried his best to dominate ‘Iron’, the scorecards decided otherwise. Chandler won that bout via a unanimous decision. 

But the duo were destined to meet once again under the banner of Bellator FC. Once again, the fight was for the championship belt. The rematch was scheduled for Bellator 157 in 2016, and again, Chandler rose victorious over the Brazilian fighter. But this time, he won by a first-round KO via punches. It was nothing short of a depressing defeat for Patricky ‘Pitbull’. 

Nevertheless, his younger brother exacted revenge against the Missouri-born mixed martial artist.

 Let’s see what transpired between Patricio ‘Pitbull’ and Michael Chandler during their match, shall we?

Patricio ‘Pitbull’ takes revenge for his brother’s sake against Michael Chandler

Patricio Freire took on Chandler at Bellator 221 in 2019. Chandler was defending the belt that he won against Brent Primus, while ‘Pitbull’ was trying to put everything into defeating ‘Iron’. Despite the kind of power that Chandler possessed, he couldn’t defend himself from Freire’s heavy punches. Most of the time, ‘Iron’ dove in to score a hit on his opponent, he was met with a powerful fist that sent him away. 

But it was the 61st second that witnessed the shift in power. Chandler was trying to close the gap with a jab, but ‘Pitbull’ sent forth a powerful overhand right that connected with Chandler’s temple. The impact was enough to send ‘Iron’ to the shadow realm. Freire jumped in to put a couple of more hits, but the referee called it quits, and ‘Pitbull’ got his hand raised. On top of that, he etched a monumental legacy in Bellator by winning the lightweight championship belt. Nevertheless, the rivalry may get reignited judging by Pitbull’s comments on the UFC lightweight star in the recent past.

Patricio ‘Pitbull’s recent comments on Chandler

Back in 2024, the talks about Chandler vs. Conor McGregor dominated the headlines. And being one of the fighters who had already competed against ‘Iron’, the fight fans looked up to what Freire had to say. In a conversation with MMA Mania, ‘Pitbull’ revealed that if the version of Chandler, that was the champion at Bellator, fought against McGregor, ‘The Notorious’ had no chance of winning. But the current scenarios didn’t favor Chandler. 

Freire said, “If it’s the b—- that went to the UFC and just wants to show up and entertain and make some cash, he’s going to get knocked out because he’s gonna try to strike with Conor. He doesn’t have the chin to take a shot anymore.” After all, he had already defeated ‘Iron’ with a KO. When he stumbled across a post on X regarding the Bellator 221 headliner, he responded with, “The easiest fight in my career.”

Now, coming to the UFC, ‘Pitbull’ is set to take on the fight against Yair Rodriguez at UFC 314. And soon, if he wins, we might get to see a rematch between him and Chandler. With the bad blood between them boiling furiously, we can certainly expect the matchup to get really exciting. But we’d still have to wait for the outcome of ‘Pitbull’s battle in May. 

Do you think ‘Pitbull’ vs. Chandler can happen anytime soon? Who do you think would win if the bout actually happens? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.