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By Chamatkar Sandhu



Bellator MMA is back this Saturday night with Bellator 160, which will go down at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.



The main event will see former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson take on former Bellator featherweight champion Patricio "Pitbull" Freire. It tops the bill of one of the more stacked cards Bellator has put together this year, and is brimming with talent that the promotion has brought up through the ranks.



At stake for the winner is the opportunity to fight recently crowned Bellator light champion Michael Chandler at a later date.



"This is a very important fight in my career," Freire said. "I'm glad Bellator has put this fight together, and in general, put big fights together. It's important for the sport."



Living for challenges

The biggest challenge may be fighting at a weight class he's not normally used to. The 145-pound fighter will be stepping up 10 pounds into Henderson's weight class.



"I live for challenges," Freire said. "The bigger the challenge, the more it attracts me. Imagine every single day of your life doing the same thing without any challenges—there is no point; there is no life in that. What makes the fire burn inside of us are the challenges, and that's what I live for. When someone doubts you and you prove them wrong, that's the best feeling you can have in your life."



Now, Freire is most intrigued by the challenge of testing his skills against a proven high-level fighter in Benson Henderson.



"He's one of the greatest," Freire said. "He's got a lot of skills. He's got a lot of accomplishments and I respect him for that. As a fighter he has never run from a challenge and always comes to fight. He's electrifying from the first round to the last second of the fight. This is going to be a great challenge for me."



More than a third of Pitbull's fights have come by way of knockout, so Freire is dialing into his preparation like never before.



"I have to be focused all the time wherever the fight goes, and with his wrestling, with his ground and pound, I need to be 100-percent focused on everything and on what I need to do. He is a great name, a former UFC champion, he's at the top," Freire said.



When asked for a prediction, he was fairly blunt. "A knockout," said Freire. "He falls to my right side."



Oh, brother

When Michael Chandler defeated Patricio's brother Patricky this past June at Bellator 157 to become the new lightweight champion, he climbed the cage to celebrate. In doing so, he exchanged a spat of words with Patricio, who was in his older brother's corner.



"I told him that I want to fight him," said Freire. "He replied saying he would kill me, and I said, 'No, I am going to be the one that will kill you.' As the fight goes, when he was celebrating he was being respectful and that's when I said I would like to fight him. After at the press conference he was being disrespectful which makes it personal."



With a title shot against Chandler on the line, Freire is trying to remain focused on the task at hand. Regardless of the outcome, he believes at some point his path will cross with Chandler, and he will have the opportunity to exact revenge for his brother.



"I'm trying not to think about Michael Chandler because I don't want to lose my focus on Benson Henderson," Freire said. "100 percent of my focus right now is on Benson Henderson. Win or lose, I am going to fight Michael Chandler some day."

