Bellator
Bellator Champ Patricio "Pitbull" Freire believes he deserves more respect after last week's win over Daniel Straus
Jan 23, 2015 - 7:45:03 PM Bellator Champ Patricio "Pitbull" Freire believes he deserves more respect after last week's win over Daniel Straus

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Bellator Featherweight Champ Patricio "Pitbull" Freire feels like the 145 lb. division's Rodney Dangerfield right now, as he feels he's not getting the proper respect for his accomplishments. He feels he's faced some overly critical voices after his win over Daniel Straus last weekend, and thinks more need to recognize what he's done to this point.

"Whoever thinks I'm fighting in a low level can come here and try and take my belt," Pitbull said in an interview with MMAFighting.com. "The first round was pretty even, back and forth. The second I was winning and he lost a point. The third round was all him. The fourth round was back and forth and I won the fight. It was a war and I got the victory, I deserve respect."

As for what's next, Bellator says he'll be rematching Georgi Karakhanyan, and though he was surprised Bellator is going right for that fight, he has no problem facing anyone they want to match him up against.

"We fought almost four years ago and back then we were both favored to win the tournament. He had a nice run outside of Bellator and returned after losing his belt," Pitbull said of Karakhanyan. "I thought the fight with Bubba Jenkins would be harder but he's shown the strength of his guillotine. It's going to be a good fight. I thought Bellator would wait for Daniel Weichel to fight before deciding who I'm facing next, but if that's what they want let's do it."

"Whoever they put in front of me I will face, I don't chose opponents. If they want to give me [Pat] Curran again I fight Curran, if they want Karakhanyan I fight him, if they want to put Straus again I will fight him again, whoever they want to put in there with me I will fight. There's no problem. I'm not here to pick opponents, I don't care if the fight is going to be tough. I just want them to give me a war and I'll accept it. I don't run away from challenges, the challenge is accepted to every fighter on the planet. If you want me to beat Straus a third time there's no problem, I don't see a problem, you can put him there."

Penick's Analysis: Freire is absolutely on the short list of the best fighters in the division right now, but fair or not, the fact that he's outside of the UFC means that people simply won't see him on the same level as Jose Aldo and the other top contenders. He's almost certainly at this stage the best featherweight not on the UFC's roster, but until he's fighting the best of the best in the UFC, he's not going to get his chance to claim that top spot. A win over Karakhanyan will continue to solidify what we already know, but he can't really rise any higher where he's at right now. That's the unfortunate reality for those out of the UFC, no matter how good they are.