Patricky Freire Calls Shabliy vs. Musayev Best Bout of Bellator LW Grand Prix

As he prepares to face A.J. McKee in the quarterfinals of the Bellator lightweight grand prix, Patricky Freire says he has learned from his championship loss to Usman Nurmagomedov this past November.

"Never approach the fight based on what my opponent is going to do and always impose my game,” Freire said. “Going forward, have a better believe in myself and what I do. That's what I’m bringing from the fight against Usman to the fight against McKee.”

Patricky revealed that the bad blood between McKee and his brother was solved when they traveled to Japan to represent Bellator against Rizin.

"Patricio explained to him some misunderstanding they had because of a signature in a cartoon. My brother asked for his signature in a magazine. He did the same with Patricio, and they ended up taking a picture together,” Patricky said. “Our faceoff was cool. As I said at the press conference, trash talk is not my style. No matter what we say before, my focus will be the same.”

Patricky has no trouble picking three of the four winners in the 155-pound tournament. But there is one fight where he is struggling to predict a winner.

"This is one of the best lightweight tournaments ever, there are no easy fights,” he said. “But I would point to myself, Nurmagomedov and Mansour [Barnaoui] as favorites. The only fight I'm having a hard time to pick is [Alexandr Shabliy vs. Tofiq Musayev]. This will be pure fireworks. No doubt the best fight in this phase of the tournament. If I really have to choose, I think Shably will win since he is more complete, but it will be a real war.”