Gallery Patricio Freire def. Daniel Weichel at Bellator 203: Best photos view 10 images

After a bit of a health scare after a title defense against Emmanuel Sanchez, Patricio Freire is slowly returning to training and eyeing a return in late March or early April.

Who will be standing across “Pitbull” Freire (28-4 MMA, 16-4 BMMA) when that happens, though, is the million-dollar question. And while Bellator’s featherweight champion can’t answer it just yet, he has some thoughts – and hunches – on the matter.

Freire met Sanchez on Nov. 15, at Bellator 209, in his second defense since re-claiming the title from Daniel Straus. Sanchez showed heart, but was outmatched “Pitbull,” who took a clean sweep on the scorecards. The two were transported to the hospital after the five-round headliner and, while Freire didn’t sustain any broken bones, that is not to say he came out unscathed.

Freire started feeling not-too-great at the end of the first round, when he began experiencing pain in his stomach and exhaustion. He was able to focus and rally despite feeling “drained” from the second round on, but after the fight he urinated blood. At first, he thought it was just the effects of blows to the body. But when it turned dark, “like Coca-Cola,” the champ understandably got a little worried.

At the hospital, they discovered a fracture on his spine that they thought could be causing his symptoms. They even contemplated surgery, Freire said, before discovering the injury was old and that he was, in fact, dealing with a condition called rhabdomyolysis.

According to WebMD.com, rhabdomyolysis is a “serious syndrome due to a direct or indirect muscle injury. It results from the death of muscle fibers and release of their contents into the bloodstream. This can lead to serious complications such as renal (kidney) failure.”

“I talked to the doctors and it’s normal among high-level athletes,” Freire said. “When they exert themselves too much, it happens. Nothing to be scared by.”

But Freire was, understandably, a little spooked. And he had to deal with the consequences of the syndrome for the following weeks, as it also caused something similar to an intestinal infection. Freire had diarrhea for a month, and the incurring dehydration led to cramps.

It was a “stressful” situation, but Freire is feeling better and back at the gym. He’s hoping to increase the pace by mid-January and hopefully return at around late March, early April. And with his 16th Bellator win in the bank, Freire weighs the options for his future.

Let’s start with what he doesn’t want next: a rematch with Sanchez. While “Pitbull” believes Sanchez “did what he had to do” in asking for it, he thinks that the fight, albeit tough, still had a dominant winner and that doesn’t warrant a do-over.

When it comes to his own featherweight division, Freire believes there’s already a front-runner in A.J. McKee. And while Freire’s immediate (and public) reaction to McKee’s latest feat wasn’t that flattering, the champ actually sees the unbeaten 23-year-old’s 13th Bellator win in an overall positive light.

“(Daniel Crawford) made him give on the stand-up fight and he was intelligent and showed a part of his game hadn’t showed before, which is the takedown,” Freire said. “He did that and was able to finish the fight. So he’s not that first-round fighter that we think that’s all they have to offer and there are no other tools. He’s showing himself an increasingly good fighter.”

Freire’s main criticism of the contender is one that McKee’s gotten used to: the level of competition he’s faced. Freire believes McKee has been spoon-fed foes on his rise through the division and only had truly tough opposition when he faced John Teixeira.

Then again, McKee knocked Teixeira out in the first round. And that significant triumph, along with the fact that McKee’s other displays were always victorious and often “beautiful,” tell Freire that the young up-and-comer is not to be underestimated.

“I put him in the same situation that Conor McGregor was before he fought (Jose Aldo),” Freire said. “Everyone was seeing that he was a very talented guy, that he knocked everybody out, that he did this and that, but everyone said, ‘He hasn’t fought anyone tough.’ They said Aldo was going to kill him, and that (Eddie) Alvarez was going to kill him, and nobody turned on that alert, so to speak. I have. I’ve seen all kinds of things in fighting.”

And what about wrestling-wonder-turned-knockout-artist Aaron Pico, who has, himself, issued a warning to “Pitbull”?

The champ acknowledges all the well-known positives of Pico’s game: aggressiveness, great takedowns and strong boxing. And he also knows that Pico’s visibility outside the cage can really help him get good opportunities, like a title bid, inside of it.

But Freire believes Pico (4-1 MMA, 4-1 BMMA), who’s set to fight Henry Corrales at Bellator 214, is still a little “raw” and lacks the experience that McKee (13-0 MMA, 13-0 BMMA), for instance, has.

“The guy who’s closest to the reality of fighting for a world title is A.J.,” Freire said. “But I think Pico comes after A.J.”

‘I just want to beat up Michael Chandler’

These, however, are the possibilities inside Freire’s division. Bellator, he says, has already approached him about the idea of super fights. And that could lead to a particularly appealing option.

“I don’t harbor any desire to fight anyone in the promotion,” Freire said. “But if they said, ‘Who do you want to fight?’ I want to fight Michael Chandler.”

The contentious history between Chandler (19-4 MMA, 16-4 BMMA) and both Patricio and his brother, Patricky, is well documented. Not only did Chandler beat Patricky twice in the cage, there have been plenty of shots fired outside of it between the Brazilian “Pitbulls” and the American, who recently re-claimed his lightweight title.

Patricio came close to a chance at avenging Patricky just recently, when he almost stepped in as a replacement for ex-champ Brent Primus. But when the bout agreement arrived, as “Pitbull” told MMAjunkie then, it differed from the fight that he had agreed to.

So, Freire didn’t sign it. Chandler would go on to use that refusal as ammunition in their verbal wars and call Freire a “coward.” But Freire says he was simply negotiating, as fighters usually do, and wanted basic conditions to make up for what he’d be giving up to take a short-notice fight in the heavier division.

In fact, Freire still has conditions to be met by Bellator should they choose to match them up. Specifically, he wants to know about the bout with enough time, so he can bulk up to 155 properly, and an early arrival in whatever city it takes place.

If the conditions aren’t met, though, Freire is still down to fight. Albeit in, let’s say, less ideal conditions.

“I’ll fight this guy even if it’s on the street,” Freire said. “I still have to settle this with him. My thing with him isn’t about fighting, my thing with him is personal. If Bellator wants to do that fight with rules, in a cage, even better. But, if we don’t settle that, there will be trouble in the street. He talked too much crap already.”

Provided the bout does happen in a more formal setting, it might come with a nice little bonus for Freire. After all, considering Chandler has reclaimed his title from Primus, moving up to meet him could mean a chance for “Pitbull” to become a two-division champion.

But Freire says he doesn’t care. If Chandler’s title happens to be up for grabs and he wins, “Pitbull” says, he’ll just vacate it and get back to his division. And he says his brother, himself not so far from 155-pound title contention, wouldn’t mind being “skipped” in line, either.

“What we want is revenge,” Freire said. “I just want to beat up Michael Chandler, I’m not worried about being champion.”

After taking on a lightweight appointment with Benson Henderson in 40 days’ notice, Freire wants to take the right approach to build up to 155 pounds. And he knows that fighting someone like Chandler would involve adjustments in his sparring and training.

But the good news is that, though he hasn’t fought Chandler before, it’s not like he’s unacquainted with his fellow Bellator champion.

“In Patricky’s camp, I was Michael Chandler,” Freire said. “I mimicked him. I know everything that he’s going to do. I know mistakes he doesn’t know he makes, because he thinks he’s Superman. So it would be very natural to me.”

For more on the Bellator’s upcoming schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.