Tag: Bellator Dublin

[autotag]Peter Queally[/autotag] thinks the rivalry between SBG Ireland and the Pitbull Brothers makes his next outing a bona fide No. 1 contender fight.

Queally (12-5-1 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) faces [autotag]Patricky Freire[/autotag] (23-9 MMA, 14-7 BMMA) in the Bellator Dublin headliner on Oct. 3 at 3Arena, with the thinking that a victory over one brother will set him on a collision course with the other – featherweight and lightweight Bellator champion Patricio Freire.

While he understands that there’s another pivotal lightweight clash between Benson Henderson and Michael Chandler scheduled, Queally is confident that if he beats Freire, he will be in prime position for a title shot.

“This is the No. 1 contender fight,” Queally told MMA Junkie. “It is. To be honest, Benson and Michael Chandler really is the No. 1 contender fight, if they’re being fair about things, and I understand that. But because it’s his brother, and because of the back-and-forth nature this fight’s going to have and all that’s going to be on the line, when I beat him – I’ll need to beat him convincingly and in an exciting matter – it makes no sense for (Patricio) not to fight me after that.

“So I’m fully confident, like 100 percent sure that if I can get past Patricky, I am jumping the queue – let’s be honest. It should be one of the two lads, (Henderson or Chandler), but it won’t matter. This is not what this business is about, as we all know.”

The rivalry between the two gyms is still brewing, with members of both gyms continuing to trade barbs. It all stemmed from Leandro Higo’s callout of James Gallagher that resulted in a Twitter spat that involved numerous fighters.

With Patricio set to defend his title against Queally’s teammate Pedro Carvalho, and with Patricky facing Queally, SBG and the Pitbull Brothers will get an opportunity to settle their beef in the cage, and Queally is out to prove that SBG is the better team.

“I’m not losing any sleep over him, put it that way. I don’t know how he feels about it, but I do want to beat him up and prove that we are better,” he said. “He’s done a lot of talking, actually – kind of mocking my team, basically, as much as me or whatever, saying SBG this, SBG that. They’re the ones who started this, so it’s going to be nice to put the exclamation mark on who the better team is, and me and Pedro are going to do that.”

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NEW YORK – [autotag]Patricky Freire[/autotag] ended his last fight defeated and injured. But now, after stem-cell treatment to accelerate his recovery from a broken hand, “Pitbull” says he’s ready to showcase his knockout power once again.

Freire (23-9 MMA, 14-7 BMMA), will take on Ireland’s [autotag]Peter Queally[/autotag] in the lightweight main event of Bellator Dublin on Oct. 3 as the rivalry between Freire’s Pitbull Brothers team and Queally’s SBG gym continues to grow heading into the summer.

Speaking to MMA Junkie after Bellator’s 2020 showcase press conference on Monday, Freire was short and to the point when discussing his upcoming matchup.

“When Peter Queally signed for Bellator, I said to him, ‘I will give a job for you, don’t run from me,’ that’s it,” he said. “And it happened. Just say, ‘Thank you so much, Patricky Pitbull, for the job, for the work.”

While Freire’s main focus is to prepare to face Queally (12-5-1 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) at the 3Arena, the long-tenured Bellator lightweight also had words for the Irishman’s teammate James Gallagher, who became embroiled in a heated verbal exchange with both “Pitbull” brothers during the press conference.

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“He loves to talk (expletive), but he won’t accept the fight with Leandro (Higo),” he said. “All the time he talks (expletive) about me and my brother. Why does he talk (expletive) about me? He just talks (expletive), and runs, talks (expletive) and runs.”

The bad blood between the Freires and SBG will come to a head in 2020, starting at Bellator 241 when SBG’s Pedro Carvalho takes on two-division Bellator champion – and Patricky’s younger brother – Patricio in the quarterfinals of the featherweight grand prix. Then, seven months later, the rivalry will reignite again when Patricky takes on Queally in Dublin.

The Brazilian warned that all the press-conference posturing between the rival factions won’t matter when it comes to the z actual fights, when he believes he and his brother will deliver a clear statement through their performances.

“The Pitbull Brothers don’t play. Never,” he said.

Freire’s coach Eric Albarracin was also on hand to explain how Patricky had his hand repaired after he sustained an injury during the Rizin FF lightweight grand prix in Japan last December.

“He broke his hand between the semis and the finals so he went to Bio Accelerator in Medellin, Colombia and got stem cells,” he said. “Now he’s a bio-X-Man, and this thing’s like steel!”

With his hand fully repaired, Freire promised to put it to good use when he faces Queally in Dublin.

“Everybody knows the power of my hands,” he said. “I will knock him out. that’s it. This is my job. It’s like X-Men.”

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NEW YORK – Irish lightweight contender [autotag]Peter Queally[/autotag] has been sitting on big news for a little while, but it’s out, and he’s happy to share his excitement ahead of his upcoming fight.

Queally (12-5-1 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) will take on Brazilian mainstay [autotag]Patricky Freire[/autotag] (23-9 MMA, 14-7 BMMA) in the Bellator Dublin headliner Oct. 3 at 3Arena in a bout that he believes will propel him into a title fight with Freire’s younger brother, two-division champ Patricio, later in 2020.

The news officially was announced at Bellator’s 2020 showcase this week, but Queally revealed that fans back in his homeland were given a sneak peek of the matchup via the accidental early release of the fight poster in his hometown.

“It was announced on a bus stop in Dublin this morning, actually,” Queally told MMA Junkie after the news conference. “They messed up the advertising, and they released the posters too early, so a lot of people knew about it (Monday morning).”

For Queally, the fight represents a perfect storm, where a sequence of events has conspired to place him exactly where he wants to be in his fighting career. A seasoned 155 pounder who has plied his trade across Europe, Queally has recently been given his chance on the global stage with Bellator. Now following his come-from-behind stoppage win over Ryan Scope at Bellator Europe 4 in 2019, “The Showstopper” is getting his chance to shine in the main event, in his hometown, against a man with whom he has a legitimate rivalry.

“It’s definitely a fight I’m looking forward to,” he explained. “There’s a reason why we’re fighting, which is always important to people. And, whatever I say about him personally, he is a great fighter and, more than that, he comes and tries to take you out, which is what I like, because it’s what I do as well. So whatever happens, it’s going to be an amazing fight. I just can’t wait for it.”

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The growing rivalry between Queally’s SBG Ireland gym and Freire’s “Pitbull Brothers” team is becoming one of the big Bellator storylines of 2020, with two SBG vs. “Pitbull Brothers” matchups already booked to take place. That rivalry was there for all to see during the press conference, but Queally said nothing he says during those interactions is for show, or to hype a fight. Instead, he said, he’s simply telling it how it is.

“I’m not getting wrapped up in the trash talk. I’m just speaking the truth,” Queally said. “It was them who started this SBG vs. Pitbull thing. They were talking (expletive) to (James Gallagher) online and on Twitter, then my name was dragged into it somehow. I can’t even remember how it was dragged into it. But it was them who actually started this, and now they have it.”

That rivalry will pick up momentum at Bellator 241 when Queally’s SBG teammate and training partner Pedro Carvalho takes on two-division Bellator champion – and Patricky’s brother – Patricio Freire in the quarterfinals of the featherweight grand prix. Freire is a solid pre-fight favorite heading into the matchup, but Queally says the featherweight title is about to change hands.

“People are going to get a big shock with this one, I can tell you right now,” he said. “People are going to be shocked on Friday. Then Patricky has me (in October), and it’s going to continue then.”

Queally said he agrees that the upcoming rematch between Michael Chandler and Benson Henderson is the deserving No. 1 contender fight, but he said the manner of his victory over Patricio’s brother in October will mean his case as a title contender is an irresistible one and will see him jump the queue to earn the next title shot at 155 pounds.

“They’re on about Henderson and Chandler being this No. 1 contender fight, but what happens when I break (Patricky’s) brother’s face? That’s it, that’ll be the No. 1 contender fight. So I think I’m going to fight both of them, probably before the year is out.

“(Chandler vs. Henderson 2) is the No. 1 contender fight right now, and rightfully so, if we’re being fair about it. But that will all change in October when I beat Patricky, of course, because it’s his brother. So it is all going to change, and I am going to jump the line, so to speak.”

To hear more from Queally, you can watch the video above.

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