Pettis beats Pitbull in return, retains Bellator bantamweight title
It was a long road back to the cage for Bellator bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis after tearing his ACL 15 months ago. But after seeing how Friday played out, it was probably worth the wait.
Pettis prevented featherweight champ Patricio "Pitbull" Freire from entering uncharted territory in the history books, upsetting him via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-45) to retain the title for the second time in the Bellator 297 co-main event in Chicago.
Freire, widely regarded as the greatest Bellator fighter ever, dropped down to 135 pounds for the first time in his career and attempted to become the first three-division champion in the history of Bellator and big-league mixed martial arts.
"Hey Bellator, I'm taking out all your poster boys," Pettis said in his postfight interview. "Juan Archuleta, (Kyoji) Horiguchi, Patricio. I think it's time I get some respect. ... I'm your guys' next star, 100%."
Freire entered Friday's superfight as the betting favorite, and there was even talk of him going for a fourth title - in Bellator's newly launched flyweight division - should he be victorious. But Pettis proved the doubters wrong again and showed why he's the bantamweight king.
"The Phenom" was composed and dominant as he earned arguably the biggest and most impressive win of his MMA run. He found his range early and outpointed Freire with crisp boxing, and he defended most of Freire's takedown attempts.
As the smaller fighter, Pettis had a significant speed advantage, and it seemed to be the difference-maker. He clipped Freire several times and constantly made the Brazilian miss.
The defending champion almost closed the show late in the second round. He rocked Freire with a spinning wheel kick to the forehead, but time expired before Pettis could do any more damage.
Freire pressured Pettis in the fifth round to make the frame competitive, but he clearly needed a stoppage by that point to secure the win and the 135-pound belt.
Pettis has now won six in a row, including five straight since joining Bellator in 2019. The 29-year-old entered the fight coming off a Knockout of the Year candidate against Horiguchi in December 2021. He captured the bantamweight belt with a decision victory over Archuleta earlier that year.
Pettis was scheduled to compete and defend his title in the Bellator Bantamweight Grand Prix but withdrew in March 2022 after suffering a torn ACL. In his absence, teammate Raufeon Stots won the interim title by knocking out Archuleta in the first round of the tournament. Patchy Mix became interim champ - and won the grand prix and the right to face the winner of Pettis-Freire - in April by stopping Stots.
Pettis and Mix squared off in the cage Friday, but no date is set for their fight.
Freire, a three-time Bellator featherweight champ and one-time lightweight titleholder, saw his three-fight winning streak end. This is his first loss since a submission defeat to AJ McKee in July 2021, which he immediately avenged by beating McKee via unanimous decision in April 2022 to regain the Bellator 145-pound belt.
Freire has defended the title once during his third reign, against Adam Borics last October. He was coming off a non-title-fight victory at the Bellator vs. Rizin event on New Year's Eve.
The 35-year-old has the most fights (28), wins (22), and title-fight victories (12) in Bellator history.