With Patricio “Pitbull” Freire finally in the UFC, could we finally see a fight between two of the greatest featherweight champions ever?
Jose Aldo is a two time UFC 145 pound champion with 11 title fights and 7 title defenses to his name. “Pitbull” is a three time Bellator featherweight champion and former Bellator lightweight champion with 9 title defenses. It would be crazy not to put the two aging legends against each other now that they fight for the same promotion. But the UFC has already shrugged off the obvious match-up, booking Freire to fight Yair Rodriguez at UFC 314 and Aldo to fight Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 315.
Sometimes Brazilians are strange about fighting each other, and Aldo is now a bantamweight fighter. But “Pitbull” said that he’d be down to fight in a recent interview with MMA Fighting.
“I don’t have a desire to fight Aldo,” Freire began. “But for context, if an offer comes from the UFC, I would be happy to take it.”
“I think if this fight doesn’t end up happening it would leave a taste, like damn they haven’t fought each after being great featherweight champions,” he continued. “For people in the UFC, everyone is sure Aldo is the greatest featherweight. But some people who know fighting say there’s also Patricio who is fighting for who’s the greatest.”
“I think the best way to settle this would be in a fight. It wouldn’t determine who’s the best, but in a fight, we would at least have an answer, and the winner would leave a great mark.”
Let’s hope the UFC pauses its slop-ass booking of Jose Aldo and puts him in against Freire, no matter the outcome of the fights in April and May. This is a fight a decade in the making, and not making it would be promotional malpractice.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
