Henry Corrales Is in No Hurry to Pursue a Rematch with Patricio ‘Pitbull’

The former King of the Cage two-division champion wouldn’t turn down the fight either.

Henry Corrales’ first foray in the Bellator MMA bantamweight division didn’t go as planned. “OK” locked horns with Johnny Campbell at Bellator 258 in May, where he had to tap to a slick rear-naked choke in the second stanza. Now, Corrales (18-6, 6-6 Bellator) is moving back to 145 pounds, where he took part in the recent grand prix that ended with A.J. McKee dethroning Patricio Freire and capturing the divisional championship.

“That was very impressive, you know?” Corrales told Sherdog. “It was really cool. [McKee] did his job, and he showed up. That guy brings the heat, so that’s pretty cool. I was pretty surprised because ‘Pitbull’ is so, so tough.”

In 2016, Corrales was submitted by Freire via guillotine choke. While the former champ-champ finds himself in an unusual losing spot, he won’t pursue a rematch with the younger “Pitbull” brother unless necessary. Next, he will face Vladyslav Parubchenko at Bellator 268, attempting to record his second victory in his last five fights.

“I’m not sure as I haven’t really given too much thought [about asking for a rematch],” he added. “I’ve trained with ‘Pitbull’ a couple of times since then. Henry Cejudo and [the Freire brothers] are good friends and he brings them down to fight [at Fight Ready], so that hasn’t been too much on my radar. But if they offer me to fight him, I don’t turn down fights. I’ll fight anybody.”

Tudor Leonte started writing about mixed martial arts in 2013 for Italian media outlets. His journey with Sherdog began in 2018 and now he covers One Championship and countless European shows. You can follow him on Twitter @MrTudorLeonte.