Patricky Freire Claims Brother ‘Told Me to Stay Away from A.J. McKee’

Bellator MMA lightweight champ Patricky Freire will only step aside for one man: his brother, Patricio Freire.

After capturing the Bellator lightweight belt at Bellator 270 with an impressive second-round knockout of Peter Queally in front of a hostile Irish crowd this past November, Freire has found himself challenged by featherweight champion A.J. McKee constantly on social media. Once his brother Patricio avenged Patricky’s own loss to Michael Chandler, Patricky saw the opportunity as the perfect path to retribution for what his brother did for him then. Patricky spoke to Sherdog on Wednesday about the possible matchup with McKee, and why he can’t take it yet.

“I would love to beat up McKee for [Patricio], but my brother is ‘too hungry’; he told me to stay away from McKee,” Patricky admitted. “That fight is his, and I obeyed.”

According to the lightweight champion, his return is already set up and his camp already started. At the time, he was unable to reveal the name and date of the fight, simply because his prospective opponent hasn’t signed the contract yet. When asked about some of the possible challengers in Sidney Outlaw and Brent Primus, as compared to McKee, Patricky had some thoughts.

“I would put Primus first, McKee in second and Outlaw in third,” “Pitbull” explained. “Even being the [#1 ranked Bellator lightweight], Outlaw is not very good in any area. He has nice wrestling, but without a variety of throws and reasonable striking, that’s why I think he would be the least dangerous among the three.”

Freire continued, “A.J. is a dangerous southpaw, undefeated and very technical, but I really think he will have a hard time coming up to lightweight, where the guys are much more explosive, strong and normally fight weighing 180 lbs. It´s a totally different world from what he is used to.”

“In my opinion, Primus is the toughest among them. Besides already being a champion, the guy is giant for that division, has a great jiu-jitsu and looks strong as a war tank. But as opportunities come, I’ll beat every one of them and prove why I have this belt with me,” Patricky finished.