[autotag]Patricky Freire[/autotag] is unfazed by the late opponent change for Bellator X Rizin 2.
With A.J. McKee forced out due to a staff infection, RIZIN lightweight champion [autotag]Roberto de Souza[/autotag] (15-2 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) will step in to face Freire (24-11 MMA, 15-9 BMMA) in Saturday’s main event at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event airs live on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET.
De Souza will enter the Bellator lightweight grand prix having won six of his past seven, but Freire is confident wherever the fight goes.
“I’m going to stop his game,” Freire told reporters through an interpreter at a Bellator X Rizin 2 news conference Thursday evening. “I’m going to be smart. I’m going to be relaxed. Everything’s going to be calm. Nothing changes: Go out there and win.”
McKee and de Souza possess different styles, but “Pitbull” says he didn’t have to change much in his approach.
“I’ve been a blackbelt since 2007, so I train everything: striking, wrestling, jiu-jitsu,” Freire said. “I’m a complete fighter. Strategy doesn’t need to change that much when you’re complete a fighter. I’m ready.”
De Souza’s mother is from Japan, so he will likely have the crowd behind him – but Freire doesn’t necessarily see that being the case.
“I don’t believe that all the Japanese fans are going to be rooting for ‘Satoshi,'” Freire said. “I believe that the ‘Pitbull’ brothers have a fanbase here in Japan, and I think the fans will be split in who they cheer for. It doesn’t matter because once that cage door closes, there’s only me and Satoshi in the cage, and that’s what counts.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator x Rizin 2.